IRLF 


3E3    110 
Second  Edition. 


THE 


(RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA,! 


I.N 

THE  EVENT 


A  WAU  WITH  FRANCE  ;•         i 

: 

WITH 
A   SHORT   bESCRIPTlON   OF  THE 

CQZAES. 

SECOND  EDITION,  CORRECTED  AND  IMPROVED 

WITH 
AN   APPENDIX,   CONTAINING   A   SKETCH   OF   THE      f 

CAMPAIGN  IN  RUSSIA. 


LT> 

CO 

0~- 
LO 

m 


r;^  BOSTON, 

Published  at  No.  4  Corn!:!!!, 
I  MUNROE  AND  FRANCIS, 


1 


March  1813. 


THfc 


RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA, 

IN 

THE  EVENT 

OF 

A  WAR  WITH  FRANCE; 

WITH 
A  SHORT  DESCRIPTION  OF   THE 

COZAKS. 


SECOND  EDITION,  CORRECTED  4NC  IMPROVED. 

\       t    >*,*•    t          \TiTH  ,  '.    ,v,  ",V)^. 
AN  APPENDIX,  CONTAINING  A   SKETCH  OF  THE 

CAMPAIGN  IN  RUSSIA. 


BOSTON, 

Published  at  No.  4,  Cornhilh 
BY  MUNROE  AND  FRANCIS- 

1S13, 


DISTRICT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  TO  WIT  ; 

District  Clerk's  Office. 

BE  it  remembered,  That,  on  the  ninth  day  of  March,  A.  0.1813,  and  in  the 
thirty-seventh  year  of  the  Lidepencknce  cf  the  TJ.uted  States  of  America, 
MUNROE  &  FRANCTSj  rvf  the  said,  district,  h?ve  deposited  in  this  office 
the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim  as  proprietors,  in  the 
woras  following,  to  vh  •  ,'',]•• 

"  The  RESOURCES  OF'RUSSiAJ  in!tte  /r'eni  of  a  \varwith  France  ; 
•with  a  short  description  of  the  Cozaks.  Stcond  edition,  corrected  and 
improved.  With  an  appendix,  containing  a  sketch  of  the  campaign  in  Rus- 
sia/' 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled, 
"  An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of 
maps,  charts,  -,uid  books,  to  the  authors  aud  proprietors  of  such  copies 
during  the  times  therein  mentioned  ;"  and  also  to  an  act,  entitled,  "  An 
act  supplementary  to  an  act,  entitled,  an  act  for  the  encouragement  of 
learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors 
and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned  ;  and 
extending  the  b  nefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and 
etching  historical  and  other  prints.*' 

WILLIAM  S.  SHAW, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts- 


TO  THE  PUBLIC. 

ITH  that  pure  and  unfeigned  joy,  which  the  suc- 
cesses of  his  country  inspire,  and  which  is  superior 
to  every  selfish  gratification  arising  from  the  pride  of 
opinion,  the  author  respectfully  offers  to  the  Ameri- 
can public  a  second  edition  of  the  "  RESOURCES  OF 
RUSSIA,"  enriched  by  copious  extracts  from  Sir  R. 
Wilson's  "  Campaign  in  Poland  during  the  years 
1806  and  1807  ;"  a  work,  which  was  not  till  lately 
received  from  England,  and  which  is,  in  every  re- 
spect, worthy  of  a  distinguished  officer  and  a  sound 
statesman.  Sir  R.  Wilson  served  the  whole  cam- 
paign with  the  Russian  army  ;  and  was  then,  as  he 
is  now,  an  eye  witness  to  the  principal  transactions, 
that  were  taking  place,  His  experience  ;  his  not 
being  a  Russian,  and  therefore  less  suspected  of  na- 
tional partiality  ;  and  his  writing  at  such  a  distance, 
and  without  the  least  concert,  and  yet  giving  the  same 


R62613 


IV 

account  of  the  Russian  nation,  will  be  considered  as 
great  and  conclusive  authority,  by  all  those  with  whom 
the  author  of  the  "  Resources"  has  the  happiness  to 
associate;  who  have  shared  with  him  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  Russia,  and  who  have  duly  appreciated  her 
sacrifices  and  her  unceasing  efforts  to  repel  the  in- 
vader. He  also  flatters  himself  that  a  sketch  of  the 
present  campaign,  and  of  the  causes  that  led  to  it$ 
will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  American  reader. 


THE 


RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA, 


JtiuSSIA,  for  some  time  past,  has  been  the 
sport  of  twofold  injustice.  The  inconsiderate 
zeal  of  some,  who  were  exaggerating  her  pow- 
er, and  the  rooted,  persevering  enmity  of 
many,  who  delighted  in  depreciating  it,  have 
driven  her,  in  the  public  opinion,  from  that 
real  intermediate  station,  which  she  might 
claim  of  right,  and  fill  without  giving  offence. 
Both  friends  and  enemies  have  wronged  her ; 
and  both  have  finished  by  deserting  her.  The 
former,  disappointed  and  vexed>  that  she  did 
not  reach  the  height  they  wished,  gave  her  no 
credit  for  the  effort  ;  and,  by  filing  unmer- 
ited disgrace  on  her,  sought  to  justify  their 
own  unreasonable  expectations.  The  latter, 
on  the  contrary,  whose  joy  at  her  mibfor- 


A2 


6  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

tunes,  could  only  be  equalled  by  their  grief  at 
her  successes,  Clteve:  steeled  their  breasts 
agaidst  'every  conviction  in  her  favour  ;  and, 
chasing  from  their  cheek  the  conscious  blush 
of  self-reproach,  with  triumphant  alacrity 
mounted  the  rostrum,  or  with  exulting  ea- 
gerness seized  the  pen  to  declaim  on  her 
political  impotence.  Like  determined  athe- 
ists, they  laboured  wantonly  to  destroy  the 
only  hope  and  consolation,  which,  in  the  pros- 
pect of  futurity,  her  existence  presented  to 
the  suffering  nations. 

The  insufficiency  of  her  resources, — the 
vacillation  of  her  policy, — -foreign  influence 
and  corruption, — and  the  defects  of  her  mili- 
tary system, — form  now  a  creed  so  general, 
and  so  readily  embraced,  as  to  call  loudly  for 
a  candid  and  impartial  examination  of  each 
of  these  topics.  In  obeying  this  call,  we 
may  possibly  discover  the  true  proportion  be- 
tween our  hopes  and  fears  ;  fix  the  balance  of 
public  judgment  ;  and  relieve  the  general 
anxiety,  as  to  the  result  of  the  -war,  which 
seems  now  stealing  upon  the  north,  with  the 
cautious  step  of  a  midnight  assassin,  or  of  a 
wary  wolf,  whose  silent  approaches  in  the 
depth  of  darkness  are  only  betrayed  by  the 
portentous  glare  of  his  eye. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  F 

Whether  the  following  sheets  may  prove 
satisfactory  or  not,I  shall  find  some  consolation 
in  having  attempted  to  perform  my  duty  ; 
and  in  having  led  the  way  for  some  abler 
pen  to  undertake  and  successfully  to  execute 
the  task,  in  which  it  may  be  my  misfortune 
to  fail.  I  must  he  understood  to  proceed 
upon  a  general  principle,  independent  of  acci- 
dent ;  and  not  influenced  by  the  question, 
whether  the  expected  war  will  or  will  not 
take  place  ;  and  whether  it  may  happen  soon- 
er, or  later.  Come  when  it  will,  the  ability 
of  Russia  to  defend  herself  is  the  only  ob- 
ject of  this  inquiry.  I  must  further  premise, 
that,  in  the  progress  of  this  little  work,  I  have 
entirely  confined  myself  to  the  Russian  au- 
thorities ;  and  left  foreign  writers  to  reconcile, 
as  well  as  they  can,  their  own  contradic- 
tions. I  feel  the  more  justified  in  this  pref- 
erence, as  a  complete  statistical  account  of  the 
Russian  empire  has  been  published,  as  late  as 
the  year  1808,  under  the  sanction  of  govern- 
ment, and  with  a  free  use  of  all  the  official 
documents  in  the  various  departments  of  state. 
The  correctness  of  this  account  is  unques- 
tionable, and  supersedes  all  foreign  accounts; 
inasmuch  as  these  never  could  have  been 


$  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

made  with  the  same  advantages  of  necessary 
information. 

First  then,tfs  to  the  insufficiency  of  resources* 
The  population  of  Russia,  as  a  source  of 
national  strength,  claims  our  earliest  consid- 
eration. The  first  computation  was  made  by 
order  of  Peter  the  Great,  in  the  year  1719  ; 
and  the  return  was  14  millions  of  both  sexes, 
including  the  Ukraine,  and  the  newly  con- 
quered countries  of  Estonia,  Livonia,  and 
part  of  Finland.  So  small  a  return,  notwith- 
standing the  considerable  acquisition  of  terri- 
tory, will  not  be  surprising,  when  we  reflect 
on  the  anarchy,  confusion,  cruel  wars,  and 
other  calamities,  which  had,  in  the  preceding 
ages,  desolated  the  Russian  empire. 

By  the  second  enumeration,  in  1743,  there 
appeared  an  increase  of  upwards  of  two  mil- 
lions ;  and  by  the  third,  in  1761,  of  four 
millions  more.  In  the  year  1781,  when  a 
fourth  report  was  made,  eight  millions  were 
gained  ;  and  the  fifth  and  last  census,  which 
took  place  in  1794,  by  an  accession  of  four 
millions,  gave  the  total  at  32  million  inhabi- 
tants. About  this  time,  from  1794  to  1795, 
the  annexation  of  Lithuania  and  Courland  to 
the  Russian  crown,  brought  in  five  millions 


fcN  THB  EVENT  OF   WAU.  9 

more,  and  increased  the  whole  population  to 
37  millions. 

As  no  disastrous  events  have  since  impeded 
the  progressive  operation  of  natural  causes  ; 
and  as  the  tables  presented  annually  to  the 
synod,from  all  the  parishes  throughout  the  em- 
pire, of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths,  show  the 
regular  annual  increase  of  500,000  for  each 
year  ;  we  can,  without  fear  of  error,  state  the 
present  population  of  Russia,  ending  writh  the 
last  year  ( 18  i  l),at  45  and  half,or  at  46  millions, 
if  we  add  the  tract  of  country  acquired  from 
Poland  by  the  treaty  of  Tilsit. 

This  is  a  prodigious  population,  and  infe- 
rior only  to  that  of  France,  swelled  beyond 
all  proportion  with  the  overflowing  tribute  of 
her  conquests.  But  the  formidable  magnitude 
of  numbers,  with  regard  to  Russia,  does  not 
afford  a  safe  ground  for  conclusion  ;  and  like 
the  rising  moon,  reflected  and  magnified  by 
the  floating  vapours  in  the  atmosphere,  de- 
ceives the  eye,  as  to  its  real  appearance.  The 
population  to  be  efficient,  must  be  in  some 
degree  commensurate  with  the  territory  ;  and 
a  single  glance  at  the  geographical  situation 

of  Russia  is  sufficient  to  show  how  immensely 

w 

the  latter  exceeds  the  former.     Her  46   miL 


10  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

lion  inhabitants,  if  distributed  over  the  surface 
of  no  less  than  340,000  geographical  square 
miles  (16,000,000  square  wersts,  or  near 
11,000,000  English  square  miles),  will  appear 
like  a  few  solitary  shrubs,  scattered  over  a 
vast  desart  to  remind  the  traveller  of  helpless 
weakness,  rather  than  of  energetic  grandeur. 
The  proportion  of  46  million  souls  to  the 
stated  number  of  geographical  miles,  will  be 
only  129  souls  to  each  square  mile  ;  and 
when  it  is  considered  that  in  France  and  oth- 
er populous  countries  in  Europe,  each  square 
mile  is  supposed  to  contain  about  2000  peo- 
ple, the  ability  of  Russia  to  make  conquests, 
and  even  to  preserve  her  existence  as  a  nation, 
will  appear  a  miracle,  or  one  of  those  phenom- 
ena in  the  political  world,  which  set  conjec- 
ture at  defiance,  and  mock  every  effort  to 
comprehend  them. 

The  prospective  contemplation  of  875 
millions  of  souls,  which  Russia  ought  to  have, 
in  proportion  to  her  territory  and  the  popula- 
tion of  other  countries,  only  heightens  the  sense 
of  her  present  deficiency  ;  and  harasses  the 
mind  with  doubts  whether,  owing  to  the  rigo- 
rous climate  and  other  causes,  unfavourable  to 
her  northern  possessions,  she  can  ever  hope 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAU,  11 

for  such  an  increase  as  would  place  her  in  ev- 
ery respect  on  a  par  with  other  powers  ;  and 
whether  it  would  not  be  best,  for  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  mankind,  that  such  a  project 
should  never  be  realized. 

In  pursuing,  however,  this  track  of  reason- 
ing, we  should  escape  one  error  only  to  fall 
into  another  of  a  no  less  serious  nature  ;  and 
to  appear  as  voluntary  followers  in  the  train  of 
those,  with  whom  spots  pass  for  eclipses,  and 
who  find  it  painful  to  turn  their  eyes  for  one 
moment  from  the  unfavourable  view  of  the 
picture. 

We  have  only  to  choose  the  middle  way, 
and  the  vast  disproportion  between  the  popu- 
lation and  territory  of  Russia,  as  well  as  the 
apprehensions  thereby  excited,  will  be  won- 
derfully lessened  by  the  discovery,  that  no 
less  than  three  fourths  of  her  immense  territo- 
ry contain  only  one  fifteenth  part  of  her  popu- 
lation ;  and  that,  consequently,  fourteen  fif- 
teenths of  her  population  are  concentrated  only 
on  one  fourth  of  her  territory.  In  other 
words,  to  the  258,000  geogr.  square  miles 
which  Siberia  contains,  there  are  3  million  in- 
habitants ;  and  to  the  82,000  geog.  square 
miles  of  Russia  in  Europe,  there  remain  43 


RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

millions,  which  is  more  than  one  fourth  of 
160  millions,  said  to  be  the  whole  population 
of  Europe.  Twelve  persons  in  Siberia  and 
near  700  in  the  European  part  of  Russia  to 
each  geogr.  square  mile,  must  therefore  be 
a  fair  and  correct  calculation  ;  and  though  it 
is  much  below  the  standard  of  European  pop- 
ulation, appearance,  even  in  this  case,  is  more 
unfavourable  than  reality  ;  for,  many  parts  of 
European  Russia,  especially  towards  the  north, 
are  very  thinly  inhabited,  and  bear  almost  the 
same  small  proportion  to  the  rest,  as  does  Sibe- 
ria. The  thickest  population  of  Russia  is  be- 
tween 48°  and  55°  of  latitude,  and  from  42°  to 
68°  of  longitude,  comparatively  on  a  small 
space,  including  the  governments  of  Moskow, 
Wladimir,  Riazan,  Kursk,  Orlow,  Charkow, 
Voronej,  Penza,  Kazan,  Tamboiv,  Poltava, 
Tchermgoff,  Minsk,  and  others;  some  of  which 
contain  from  1300  to  2400  souls  to  each 
square  mile,  and  bring  Russia  nearer  to  an 
equality  with  other  powers,  than  may  have 
been  at  first  imagined. 

If  the  comparison  should  still  be  in  favour 
of  France,  it  will  be  lessened  by  the  conside- 
ration, that  her  population  is  more  numerical 
than  effective  ;  and  that  this  last,  as  it  appears 


M  THE  EVENT  OF  WAK.  13 

at  present,  is  better  preserved  in  Russia, 
where  persons  from  20  to  30  years  of  age 
are  not  near  so  scarce  as  in  France.  Besides, 
national  strength,  derived  from  population,  de- 
pends in  a  great  measure  on  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  that  population  ;  and  on  the  energy 
of  government  in  seizing  and  bringing  that 
character  into  action.  Of  the  first,  almost  ev- 
ery page  of  the  ancient  and  modern  history  of 
Russia  presents  us  with  the  most  pleasing 
assurances  ;  as  to  the  last,  we  have  no  reason 
to  be  distrustful,  since  the  contest,  which  the 
Russian  government  is  likely  to  maintain,  will 
be  no  longer  for  any  foreign  interest,  but  for 
her  own  immediate  defence  and  safety.  The 
question  will  not  be  whether  Austria  or  Prus- 
sia are  to  be  assisted  with  her  arms  ;  or 
whether  England  is  to  be  supported  in  her  in- 
tercourse with  the  European  continent ;  but 
whether  Russia  shall  exist,  or  be  erased  from 
the  list  of  nations.  France  cannot,  as  former- 
ly, pretend  that  she  entertains  no  direct  hos- 
tility, and  no  wish  to  invade  the  territories  or 
destroy  the  political  influence  of  Russia.  The 
enemy's  designs  will  be  unmasked  ;  and  his 
arms  openly  pointed  against  the  dearest  inte- 
rests of  Russia.  His  assaults  will  have  no 


U  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

other  plea5  than  inordinate  ambition  ;  an  avow« 
ed  object  of  enmity ;  a  manifest  desire  to  mo- 
lest and  destroy  ;  and  a  premeditated,  unwar- 
rantable appeal  to  force  :  he,  therefore,  will 
be  opposed  with  corresponding  vigour,  and  a 
determination  suitable  to  the  pressing  occa- 
sion ;  with  a  magnanimity  and  patience  fully 
proportionate  to  the  magnitude  of  danger  ; 
and  with  that  firmness  and  perseverance, 
which,  if  protracted,  will  be  finally  crowned 
with  success.  It  would  be  no  less  unjust  to 
suppose  the  Russian  government  so  wanting 
in  wisdom  and  foresight,  as  not  to  have  be- 
held the  enemy's  preparations  with  a  suspi- 
cious and  jealous  eye.  Whatever  may  be 
his  success,  it  will  not  be  owing  to  the  chance 
of  surprise. 

Nor  are  the  pecuniary  means,  which  are 
emphatically  called  the  sinews  of  war,  so 
scanty  in  Russia,  as  they  have  been  generally 
imagined.  The  comparatively  low  state  of 
her  finances,  if  fairly  viewed,  may  tend  to 
raise  our  confidence  rather  than  depress  it. 

The  following  are  the  sources  of  the  vearly 
revenue  of  Russia, 


IN  TUB  EVENT  OF  WAR-  15 

Roubles. 

Poll  tax  52,000,000 

Duties  on  distilleries  25,000,000 

Custom-House  duties  13,000,000 
Produce  of  the  mines  and  the 

mint  -  10,000,000 

Stamp  duties  8,000,000 
Fisheries,  mills,  forests  and 

post-offices  6,000,000 

The  tribute  of  subjected  nations  1,000,000 


Total  115,000,000 


As  this  revenue  is  not  dependent  on  the 
fluctuating  state  of  foreign  exchange,  it  must 
be  calculated  at  par  ;  and  is  therefore  equal  to 
15  million  pounds  sterling.  Unquestionably 
it  makes  no  figure  by  the  side  of  30  millions 
in  the  disposal  of  France,  or  50  millions  annu- 
ally brought  to  the  British  exchequer  ;  but 
then  it  should  be  considered,  that  the  above 
revenue  of  Russia  is  free,  permanent,  unin- 
cumbered  with  heavy  interest  on  national 
debt,  and  has  all  those  additional  sources  un- 
touched, which  in  France  and  England  are 
nearly  exhausted. 

The  system  of  taxation  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  exist  in  Russia.  The  poll-tax,  amounting 


16  RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

to  little  more  than  one  rouble  per  head,  and 
being  nearly  all  the  people  pay,  certainly  de- 
serves not  the  name  of  a  system.  The  man- 
ufacturing interest,  if  we  except  the  articles 
exported,  is  not  burthened  with  taxes  ;  and 
from  its  visible  progress,  as  appears  from  the 
yearly  important  diminution  of  almost  2  mil- 
lion roubles  in  the  imports  of  foreign  manu- 
factures, this  branch  of  industry  promises  to 
Russia,  in  the  hour  of  need,  no  inconsiderable 
support. 

The  produce  and  consumption  of  salt, 
amounting  yearly  to  20  million  pouds,  up- 
wards of  300,000  tons,  formerly  an  important 
branch  of  revenue  to  the  government,  but 
now  free  and  unproductive,  may  be  resumed 
on  emergency,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the 
superior  administration  now  placed  over  it, 
may  be  rendered  more  than  ever  profitable. 
All  the  branches  of  agriculture,  as  regards 
consumption  at  home,  are  free  from  taxes, 
and  may  be  made  largely  to  contribute  to  the 
relief  of  national  necessities.  Russia  has  not 
as  yet  had  recourse  to  duties  on  malt  liquors, 
the  consumption  of  which  is  immense ;  or  on 
houses,  windows,  dogs,  coaches,  and  every 
domestic  and  foreign  luxury  ;  nor  has  she 
wielded  yet  the  potent  engine  of  a  funding 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  17 

system.  In  short,  she  has  the  example  of 
France  and  England  before  her  ;  and  if  the 
worst  comes,  she  can  but  relieve  herself  in 
the  same  manner  ;  though,  I  think,  she  is  in 
no  immediate  danger  of  being  driven  to  this 
extremity. 

Her  commerce,  though  small,  when  com- 
pared with  that  of  England,  is  profitable 
enough  to  bear  additional  burthens  ;  and  her 
circulating  capital,  which  is  computed  at  200 
million  roubles  in  specie,  and  109  millions  in 
paper,  exhibits  at  once  the  sufficiency  of  her 
credit  and  the  solid  foundation  of  her  pros- 
perity. Add  to  this,  that  she  never  subsisted 
on  foreign  plunder,  as  France  has  done,  and 
never  counted  it  one  of  the  principal  sources 
of  her  revenue  ;  the  approaching  annihilation, 
therefore,  of  this  source,  in  proportion  as  the 
countries  which  supplied  it  became  more  and 
more  exhausted,  may  soon  reduce  her  for- 
midable rival  to  an  equality  with  herself. 

Granting,  however,  the  balance  at  all  events 
to  be  against  her,  as  to  the  relative  means  and 
resources  of  France  ;*  the  advantage  of  acting 

*  Russia  is    certainly  competent  to  meet  France 
properly  so  called  ;  but  here  the  question  is,  wheth- 
B* 


28  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

on  the  defensive  is  more  than  sufficient  to  turn 
the   scale  in   her  favour.     In   this   point   of 
view,  we  have  to  consider,  not  whether  she 
can  go  as  far  as  France  in  sending  and  main- 
taining troops  abroad  ;  but  whether  she  has  a 
sufficient  force  at  home  to  repel  the  enemy  ; 
and  whether  her  internal  resources  are  ade- 
quate to  the  support,  maintenance,  and   due 
exertion  of  that   force.     This  is  a  cheering 
subject  :  and  we  shall  take  a  short  retrospec- 
tive view  of  it. 

A  century  ago,  that  is,  in  the  year  1712,  the 
military  force  of  Russia  amounted  in  all  to 
107,350  men.  As  this  muster  was  made 
three  years  after  the  memorable  battle  of  Pol- 
tava, I  cannot  help  observing  here,  that  unless 
Peter  the  Great  had  brought  almost  every  sol- 
dier he  had  into  the  field,  a  thing  in  its  very 
nature  impossible,  the  statements  of  Swedish 
and  other  foreign  historians  of  80,000  men  in 
one  place,  and  as  many  in  another,  with 
which  Peter  overwhelmed  Charles,  must  ap- 
pear to  every  intelligent  and  candid  man, 

er  Russia  can  repel  France  supported  by  Austria, 
Prussia,  Italy,  the  Rhenish  confederacy,  and  indeed 
whole  continental  Europe,  combined. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  19 

what  it  really  is,   an  absurd  and  inconsistent 
exaggeration. 

At  the  death  of  Peter,  the  country  inherited 
from  his  genius  and  perseverance  a  well  ap- 
pointed and  disciplined  army  of  200,000  men, 
having  almost  doubled  within  the  short  pe- 
riod of  twelve  years,  that  is,  from  1712  to 
1725,  when  that  great  prince  died.  In  1771 
it  was  considerably  augmented  :  and  from 
that  time  to  1794  it  was  increased  to 
312,785  men  ;  and  now  it  is  not  much  less 
than  700,000  men.  The  following  are  its 
component  parts  : 

REGULAR  TROOPS. 

Rank  and  file 

1.  Life  Guards  (horse)  consisting 

of  five  regiments  3,316 

2.  do.  foot,  six  regiments  -          9,306 

3.  Field  Cavalry,  46  regiments  49,788 

4.  do.  Infantry,  130      do.  219,125 

5.  Garrisons,  19  do.  70,884 

6.  Artillery  42,963 


395,381 
Officers  12,709 


Total     408,090 


RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 


IRREGULAR. 

Different  regiments  of  Calmucks, 

Tartars,  Don  Cozaks,  &c.  Sec.  98,211 

Officers  -         -         -         -  2,189 


Total     100,400 
Invalids,  including  officers  24,660 

Grand  total     533,150 


The  provinces,  which  were  mentioned  be- 
fore as  the  most  populous  in  the  Russian  em- 
pire, and  which  contain  about  15  millions  of 
male  population,  by  a  new  levy  in  1806  of 
one  in  a  hundred,  furnished  an  additional 
number  of  150,000  men  ;  which  makes  the 
present  force  of  Russia  amount  to  683,150 
men.  By  deducting  70,884  for  garrisons, 
and  24,660  invalids,  there  remains  587,606 
effective  men  ;  or  487,206  regulars,  and 
100,400  irregulars,  a  force  which,  if  assisted 
by  local  advantages,  can  defy  the  united 
efforts  of  all  the  invaders  Europe  can  send 
against  her.* 

*  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  in  his  brief  Remarks  on  the 
composition  of  the  Russian  army,  speaks  thus  : 

"  THE  INFANTRY  is  generally  composed  of  ath- 
letic men  between  the  ages  of  IS  and  40,  endowed 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  AVAR.  21 

It  is  a  consoling  and  pleasing  consideration, 
that  the  population  of  Russia  has  not   since 

with  great  bodily  strength,  but  generally    of  short 
stature,  with  martial  countenance  and  complexion. 

The  bayonet  is  a  truly  Russian  weapon.  The 
British  alone  are  authorised  to  dispute  their  exclu- 
sive pretension  to  this  arm ;  but  as  the  Russian  sol- 
dier is  chosen  for  the  army,  out  of  a  numerous  popu- 
lation, with  the  greatest  attention  to  his  physical  pow- 
ers, the  battalions  of  the  former  have  superior  advan- 
tages. No  man  even  with  bad  teeth  is  enlisted. 

The  untrained  Russian  also,  like  the  Briton,  un- 
daunted, whilst  he  can  affront  the  danger,  disdains  the 
protection  of  favouring  ground,  or  the  example  of 
his  adversary,  and  presents  his  body  exposed  from 
head  to  foot,  either  to  the  aim  of  the  marksman,  or 
the  storm  of  the  cannonade. 

THE  LIGHT  INFANTRY  is  augmenting  since 
the  late  war  ;  and  as  Russia  possesses  a  population 
well  adapted  for  this  service  in  various  parts  of  her 
empire,  she  ought  to  extend  it  considerably. 

The  regiments  of  Light  Infantry,  hitherto  formed, 
are  of  an  excellent  description,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  imagine  a  more  beautiful  body  than  the  Chasseurs 
of  the  Guard,  who,  it  is  said,  come  chiefly  from  Sibe- 
ria ;  indeed,  this  is  the  province  where  the  best 
marksmen  and  of  the  hardiest  race  are  recruited,  al- 
though, in  general,  the  men  are  lighter.  They 
know  their  service  perfectly  :  and  as  many  of  these 
men,  in  common  with  other  regiments,  had  marched 
more  than  three  thousand  miles  to  join  the  army  5 


RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

been  drained  by  fresh  levies,  as  it  has  been  iu 
France  by  the  system  of  conscription,  enforc- 

as  the  vicissitude  of  a  Siberian  winter,  and  the  raging 
heat  of  Asiatic  deserts  were  familiar  to  them,  they 
possessed  a  natural  training  and  stamina  which  qual- 
ified them  in  the  highest  degree  for  the  service  they 
were  required  to  encounter. 

GUARDS.  It  cannot  be  doubted  but  that  the  picked 
nien  of  such  a  population  as  Russia,  a  country  where 
man  is  so  well  grown,  must  compose  a  superior  body  of 
foot  guards,  whose  numbers  do  not  exceed  7000.  There 
cannot  be  a  nobler  corps,  or  one  of  more  warlike  des- 
cription, and  the  simplicity  of  dress  gives  to  the  man 
the  full  character  of  his  figure  and  mien.  On  every 
occasion  the  Guards  have  distinguished  themselves  : 
and  it  is  singular  in  this  service  that  the  whole  army 
prides  itself  in  their  majesty  and  excellence.  All 
extol  ;  all  joy  in  their  perfections  ;  and  the  sentiment 
of  jealousy  is  unknown. 

At  Tilsitz  the  guards  of  France,  of  Russia,  and 
some  of  Prussia,  paraded  in  the  same  town.  Those 
of  France,  whatever  may  be  their  military  merits, 
made  but  a  very  indifferent  appearance,  and,  being 
generally  small  men,  the  grenadier  high  cap  had  an 
effect  contrary  to  ornament  or  grandeur — Those  of 
Prussia  were  too  much  ruined  to  be  estimated  justly, 
yet  the  stature  and  proportion  were  better  than  those 
of  France  ;  but  the  guards  of  Russia  surpassed  both 
"  as  day-light  doth  a  lamp."  They  exhibited  a  com- 
bination of  form  and  stature,  of  manly  expression  and 
warlike  simplicity,  of  martial  character  and  beauty 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAK.  ^23 

cd  and  executed,  with  such  rigour,  in  antici- 
pation.    Moreover,  a  militia  was  raised  in  the 

which  was  not  only  unrivalled,  but  elevated  above  all 
comparison. 

THE  RUSSIAN  CAVALRY  is  certainly  the  best 
mounted  of  any  upon  the  continent ;  and  as  English 
horses  never  can  serve  abroad  in  English  condition? 
it  is  the  best  mounted  in  Europe. 

Hungary  and  Turkey  may  perhaps  produce  horses 
as  well  adapted  for  the  hussar  and  irregular  services, 
but  the  heavy  Russian  horses  are  matchless  for  an 
union  of  size,  strength,  activity  and  hardiness  ;  whilst 
formed  with  the  bulk  of  the  British  cart-horse,  they 
have  so  much  blood  as  never  to  be  coarse,  and 
withal  are  so  supple  as  naturally  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  manege,  and  receive  the  highest  degree  of 
dressing. 

They  are  chiefly  bred  in  the  plains  of  the  Don  and 
the  Volga ;  but  as  the  native  breed  of  those  countries, 
and  of  the  surrounding  nations  is  of  inferior  size,  it  is 
not  improbable  that  they  are  descendants  of  the  cel- 
ebrated Cappadocian  breed,  introduced  into  Europe 
by  the  Romans,  and  (which  is  remarkable,)  into  Nu- 
bia, by  a  present  of  three  hundred  from  the  Emperor 
Constantino  to  one  of  the  African  princes,  where  they 
seem  to  have  preserved  all  their  character  and  pow- 
ers, whilst  the  influence  of  European  climate  or  food 
has  somewhat  degenerated  their  stature,  Bruce* 
when  in  Nubia,  first  noticed  this  gigantic  and  pecu- 
liar species,  but  the  statement  increased  the  charges 
of  invention  against  this  much  wronged  traveller  ; 
atid  Bruce,  not  recollecting  the  Roman  present,  da* 


24  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

same  year  (1806),  of  no  less  than  600,00$ 
men,  who  were  already  in  motion,  and  in  con- 
ted  their  introduction  to  the  time  of  the  Saracen  con- 
quests, which  origin  not  being  supported  by  any  col- 
lateral evidence,  was  too  vague  for  such  a  remarka- 
ble exception  to  the  race  of  Arabia,  Egypt,  and 
Abyssinia  :  but  it  was  reserved  for  the  period  of  the 
Egyptian  expedition  to  vindicate  Bruce  by  the  cor- 
roboration  of  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  such  a  breed 
of  horses. 

After  the  battle  of  Eylau,  when  the  Imperial  caval- 
ry of  the  guards  were  ordered  from  St.  Petersburgh 
to  join  the  army  in  Poland,  the  men  were  sent  in 
waggons  as  far  as  Riga,  and  the  horses  accompanied 
at  the  rate  of  50  miles  each  day.  From  thence  they 
were  ridden,  and  proceeded  to  their  station  at  the  rate 
of  35  miles  each  day  ;  after  a  march  of  700  miles, 
so  conducted,  they  appeared  not  only  in  excellent 
con  parative  order,  but  in  such  high  condition,  that 
the  regular  garrisons  of  any  capital  in  Europe  could 
not  present  a  finer  cavalry  parade.  The  hussar  horse 
has  nothing  remarkable,  except  that  he  is  generally 
stronger  loir.ed  than  the  Hungarian,  with  equal  blood, 
and  force  oi  constitution. 

During  Beningzen's  retreat,  and  from  that  period 
to  the  disappearance  of  the  snow  in  June,  no  cavalry 
ever  encountered  greater  hardship. 

For  above  six  months  in  the  severity  of  the  ex- 
tremest  Poland  winter,  they  were  always  at  the  piquet 
post  without  any  shelter  ;  and  for  three  months  or 
more,  they  had  no  other  sustenance  than  what  the 
old  thatch,  stripped  ftom  the  roofs  of  the  cottages* 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  25 

dition  to  take  the  field.  In  consequence  of 
the  peace  of  Tilsit,  this  force  was  dismissed, 

supplied  ;  and  in  consequence  of  this  necessity  Po- 
land was  progressively  rendered  uninhabitable,  and 
war  assumed  her  most  frightful  aspect. 

The  mortality  certainly  was  great,  but  it  did  not 
render  the  cavalry  inefficient  or  feeble  for  the  service 
of  the  most  ac.tive  and  laborious  campaign  which  suc- 
ceeded. 

The  appointments  are  of  the  best  quality,  superior 
to  most  of  the  continental  nations  ;  but  latterly, 
France  has  applied  so  much  attention  to  the  improve- 
ment of  her  cavalry  equipment,  that  she  may  dispute 
the  preference.  The  mode  of  hanging  up  the  bit  to  the 
check  of  the  halter,  or  bridle,  so  as  to  loosen  or  sus- 
pend it  with  rapid  facility,  is,  however,  a  Russian  im- 
provement, not  yet  adopted  by  other  countries. 

In  war  they  are  alert  and  intelligent  : — in  battle 
brave  and  capable  of  every  evolution  and  operation  : 
— they  charge  with  rapidity  and  union,  and  in  all  the 
actions  their  loss  from  gallant  enterprize  and  efforts 
was  considerable.  At  Eylau  they  sustained  the  tre- 
mendous fire  with  heroic  fortitude,  and  made  some 
desperate  and  successful  attacks.  At  the  battle  of 
Friedland,  when  Buonaparte,  by  the  superiority  of 
numbers,  had  forced  the  Russian  left,  and  gained 
possession  of  the  town  of  Friedland,  with  the  bridg- 
es over  the  Aller  ; — notwithstanding  their  losses  on 
a  day  where  they  had  repeatedly  charged  ; — notwith- 
standing the  position  in  which  they  were  now  expos- 
c 


26  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

4\vith  the  exception  of  those  who  wished  to  en- 
list in  the  regular  army,  and  with  the  reserva- 

ed,  and  the  ruin  that  threatened  by  delay  in  the  field  ; 
— animated  with  a  generous  resolution  to  save  the 
centre  and  right  wing  of  their  army,  they  rushed 
across  the  plain,  charged  the  advancing  centre  of  the 
enemy,  and  by  their  daring  efforts  and  bold  counte- 
nance, enabled  the  retreat  of  the  infantry,  with  all 
their  cannon,  through  an  almost  impracticable  ford, 
in  the  presence  of  Buonaparte  and  80,000  men  ;  and 
subsequently  so  covered  the  inarch  upon  the  Aller, 
which  was  to  be  passed  again  at  Wehlau,  and  over 
the  Memel,  (upon  each  of  which  rivers  there  is  but 
one  bridge,  and  from  Friedland,  an  intervening  open 
country  of  about  1 20  miles)  that  Murat  and  Buonaparte 
could  effect  nothing  against  a  defeated  force,  redu- 
ced to  34,000  men,  and  after  Lestocq's  union,  incum- 
bered  with  above  500  pieces  of  cannon  and  10,uOO 
carriages,  of  which  they  lost  not  one,  whereas  the 
French  cavalry,  who  were  obliged  to  remain  united, 
with  all  their  caution,  experienced  loss  and  disgrace. 

The  officers  of  the  Russian  cavalry  attend  to  their 
various  duties  with  great  zeal  and  diligence,  and  the 
whole  interior  economy  is  well  regulated  and  admin- 
istered 

THE  RUSSIAN  ARTILLERY  is  of  the  most 
powerful  description.  No  other  army  moves  with 
so  many  guns,  and  with  no  other  army  is  it  in  a  bet- 
ter state  of  equipment,  or  is  more  gallantly  served. 

The  piece  is  well  formed,  and  the  carriage  solid, 
without  being  heavy.  The  harness  and  the  rope-tack- 
ling is  of  the  best  quality  for  service,  and  all  the  ap- 


IN  THE  KYKNT  OF  WAK.  2? 

tion  of  200,000  men,  for  any  future  emergen- 
cy ;  so  that  with  this  ample  reserve,  and  in 

purtenances  of  the  gun  complete  and  well  arranged. 
The  draught  horses  are  small,  but  of  great  muscular 
strength,  strongly  loined,  and  with  high  blood.  Four 
draw  the  light  field-pieces,  and  eight  the  twelve 
pounders  ;  the  latter  have  sometimes  indeed  ten 
horses  ;  but  then  the  roads  must  be  such  as  are  only 
to  be  met  with  in  Poland  before  the  frost  sets  in,  or 
when  it  breaks  up,  and  which,  during  the  last  cam- 
paign, were  in  such  a  state  that  Buonaparte  said  he 
had  discovered,  by  crossing  the  Vistula,  the  new  ele- 
ment of  mud.  The  power  of  these  animals  is  howev- 
er so  great,  that,  on  taking  up  positions,  they  will 
plunge  through  the  ditches  filled  with  yielding  snow, 
although  so  deep  as  to  cover  their  back,  and  bury  the 
guns  altogether  ;  and  when  the  center  and  right  wing 
retired  through  the  Aller,  after  the  battle  of  Fried- 
land,  at  a  point  discovered  on  the  emergency,  they 
were  partly  swimming,  and  afterwards  compelled  to 
ascend  the  banks,  which  were  almost  perpendicular. 
If  the  horses  had  possessed  less  strength  or  activity, 
the  whole  must  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  ene- 
my ;  but  the  Russians  seem  well  aware  of  the  impor- 
tance of  horsing  their  artillery  well,  and  the  Russian 
government  is  wise  enough  to  spare  no  expense  that 
may  be  necessary  for  its  efficiency  and  security. 

The  drivers  are  stout  men  :  like  all  other  drivers? 
they  require  superintendance  in  times  of  danger,  to 
prevent  their  escape  with  the  horses,  but  on  various 
occasions  they  have  also  shewn  great  courage  and  fi- 


28  RESOURCES  OF  UUSStA 

consequence  of  the  natural  progress  of  popu- 
lation in  five  years,  or  the  great  number  of 

delity  ;  and  they  have  the  essential  merit  of  carefully 
providing  subsistence  for  their  horses. 

When  the  Russian  army  was  in  Poland,  above  500 
pieces  of  field-cannon  moved  with  it  generally,  and 
were  actually  in  the  battle  of  Eylau.  Beningzen  had 
indeed  left  in  his  previous  movements  towards  the 
Bug  120  pieces,  chiefly  of  12  pounders  in  reserve, 
which  fortunately  escaped  Bernadotte's  column,  and 
only  entered  the  field  in  the  evening  before  the  gene- 
ral action.  Its  safety  may  indeed  be  owing  to  the 
capture  of  the  courier,  which  gave  Beningzen  notice 
at  Mohrungen  of  Buonaparte's  intention  to  assemble 
his  army  and  attack  him,  whilst  by  the  interception 
of  the  despatches  Bernadotte's  orders  to  manoeuvre 
on  his  right  and  in  his  rear  were  delayed  two  days — 
important  days,  for  they  preserved  the  Russian  army, 
as  well  as  the  reserve  cannon,  by  enabling  them  to 
reach  Eylau  without  such  further  impediment. 
This  number  was  certainly  out  of  proportion  to  the 
infantry,  which  at  the  outset  never  amounted  to 
80,000  men,  and  was  particularly  inconvenient  and 
embarrassing  in  countries  and  seasons  when  forage 
was  not  to  be  assured.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  cam- 
paign, when  the  infantry  was  by  sanguinary  actions 
greatly  reduced,  the  number  of  guns  was  a  real  dis- 
advantage, and  endangered  the  safety  to  the  army  by 
the  delays  it  occasioned. 

During  the  late  campaigns  the  Russians  lost  very 
little  artillery.  At  Pultusk  some  few  after  the  action 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  ^ 

those  who  have  attained  the  proper  age  for 
service,  Russia  bids  fair  to  maintain  the  con- 
were  completely  smothered  in  the  mud,  and  the 
French  lost  as  many  of  theirs  in  the  same  way. 

In  the  retreat  from  Yankova  to  Eylau,  notwith- 
standing the  daily  serious  conflicts,  they  did  not  lose 
ten  pieces.  At  Eylau,  they  left  the  next  morning  12 
pieces  that  had  been  damaged,  but  withdrew  above 
30  of  the  enemy's  guns.  At  Heilsberg  they  lost  in 
the  retreat  of  Prince  Bragration,  and  previous  to  the 
attack  on  the  position  three  or  four,  at  Friedland  only 
17.  And  at  Austerlitz  their  cannon  fell  into  the  en- 
emy's hands,  from  an  error  in  the  road,  and  not  from 
the  achievements  of  victory  in  that  field,  although 
Buonaparte  in  his  despatches  announces  their  capture, 
as  so  many  trophies  gained  on  that  clay. — According 
to  the  French  bulletins  indeed,  the  Russians  lost  300 
pieces  of  cannon  from  December  to  June,^p£^w1uch 
above  200  pieces  were  lost  at,  and  previous  to  the 
battle  of  Eylau  ;  but  the  falsehood  was  so  gross,  that 
to  account  for  their  disappearance,  he  shrewdly  order- 
ed them  to  be  melted  for  the  erection  of  a  bronze 
statue  to  the  memory  of  General  Haultpoult,  an  ex- 
cellent officer  of  cavalry,  killed  at  Eylau,  but  the  64th 
bulletin  of  the  French  army,  out-herods  herod— 
<<  On  this  subject  it  has  been  remarked,  that  the  Em^ 
peror  has  never  lost  any  cannon  in  the  armies  he 
commanded,  whether  in  the  first  campaigns  of  Egypt, 
whether  with  that  of  the  Army  of  Reserve,  with  that 
of  Austria  and  Moravia,  or  in  Prussia  and  Poland."— 
If  this  fact  is  to  rest  on  French  authority,  certainly 
c* 


30  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

test  without  resorting  to  any  extraordinary 
measure,  and  exhausting  those  regular  and 
main  sources  of  strength,  which  in  the  last  ex- 
tremity must  still  prove  her  safeguard.  She 
may  still  present — what  imperial  France  can- 
not— the  cheerful  countenance  of  man.  From 
St.  Petersburgh  to  Moskow,  and  from  Mos- 
kow  to  the  Euxine,  the  traveller  may  still  see 
that  active  and  smiling  industry,  which  nei- 
ther feels  nor  fears  the  hostile  sword — but 
which,  in  the  regions  of  France,  shrinks  with 

none  was  or  ever  will  be  lost  ;  but  a  more  impudent 
falsehood  was  never  published  for  French  credulity. 

The  Russians,  however,  wisely  do  not  attach  too 
much  reputation  or  disgrace  to  the  possession  or  loss 
of  a  gun.  They  think  that  it  is  better  to  fight  it  to 
the  last  moment,  and  let  an  enemy  gain  it  dearly,  than 
withdraw  it  too  soon  for  a  preservation  that  also  pre- 
serves the  enemy. 

The  Cozak  artillery,  worked  by  Cozaks,  which  is 
a  late  institution,  consisted  of  24  pieces  extremely 
light,  and  the  carriages  were  fashioned  with  a  care  and 
nicety  which  did  great  credit  to  Russian  workman- 
ship. This  park  joined  at  Heilsberg,  after  the  battle 
of  Eylau,  and  in  a  march  of  3000  wersts,  one  werst  -| 
of  an  English  mile,  in  the  course  of  14  weeks,  not 
one  horse  was  disabled  or  died,  and  it  was  soon  after- 
wards brought  into  action,  and  did  considerable  exe- 
cution oh  the  enemy  near  Allerstein,  nor  was  one 
piece  lost  during  the  whole  campaign. " 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  31 

the  chill  blast  of  war,  and  withers  in  the  mer- 
etricious embraces  of  a  hollow  peace.  The 
tearful  eye,  the  mournful  visage,  the  wide 
spreading  desolation,*  and  the  melancholy 
spectacle  of  helpless  infancy,  and  tottering 
age,  torn  from  their  natural  prop  of  manhood ; 
all  the  calamities,  which  France  in  the  fulness 
of  her  pride  and  the  wanton  exertion  of  her 
power  has  brought  upon  herself,  while  wish- 
ing to  afflict  others, — are  yet  unknown,  un- 
felt,  and  unseen  in  Russia  :  and  may  remain 
so,  though  hosts  of  foes  should  conspire  her 
ruin. 

The  natural  situation  of  Russia  is  such,  that 
she  can  with  ease  and  convenience  maintain 
and  support  while  on  her  own  ground,  not 
only  the  formidable  force  she  possesses,  but 
double  that  number,  if  necessity  should  re- 
quire it.  All  her  means  are  within  herself ; 
and  no  country  in  the  known  world  is  so  lit- 
tle dependent  on  commercial  or  any  other  in- 

*  The  author's  personal  experience,  and  all  recent 
accounts  of  France  confirm  the  desertion  of  roads 
even  in  the  vicinity  of  Paris  ;  and  the  difficulty  of 
meeting,  out  of  the  army,  young  persons  from  17  to 
30  years  of  age.  Boys,  women,  and  old  men  are  the 
only  beings  that  present  themselves  to  the  sight  of  a 
traveller. 


32  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

tercourse  with  foreign  nations.  Could  com- 
modities or  the  necessaries  themselves  be 
transported  with  the  same  facility  as  money 
which  represents  them,  she  might  provide  for 
her  armies,  at  any  distance  from  home,  better 
than  any  power  in  Europe,  France  herself  not 
excepted.  There  is  nothing  relating  to  the 
maintenance  of  an  army,  but  what  she  can 
dra\v  from  herself,  find  on  her  own  land,  and 
manufacture  with  her  own  hands  ;  an  advan- 
tage which  she  preeminently  enjoys,  of  which 
no  external  cause  can  deprive  her,  and  which, 
as  long  as  it  is  enjoyed,  must  render  her,  on 
her  own  territory,  invincible.  Food,  cloth- 
ing, and  ammunition  of  every  kind  are  amply 
supplied  to  her  by  art  and  nature  ;  and  placed 
at  her  absolute  disposal. 

From  the  report  of  the  minister  of  the  inte- 
rior on  agriculture,  for  the  years  1802,  1803, 
and  1804,  it  appears,  that,  after  all  the  exports 
to  foreign  countries,  and  all  the  deductions 
for  distilleries,  and  those  provinces  or  govern- 
ments which  are  unfavourably  situated,  and 
where  annual  harvests  are  not  sufficient  to 
maintain  the  inhabitants  ;  there  remained,  as 
an  average  suiplus  of  corn  for  each  year,  50 
million  tchetwerts,  or  450  million  pouds, 
about  7  million  tons  ;  which,  if  sold  at  the 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  33 

usual  price  of  4  roubles  per  tchetwert,  would 
bring  Russia  200  million  roubles  a  year,  al- 
most twice  as  much  as  the  whole  revenue  of 
the  empire.  Those  who  calculate  the  resources 
of  Russia  only  by  their  nominal  representation, 
money,  will  do  well  to  pause  and  reflect 
awhile  on  the  above  prodigious  source  within 
herself,  which  must  increase  with  the  popula- 
tion, and  outrun,  for  whole  centuries  to  come, 
the  demand  at  home,  by  reason  of  the  vast 
superabundance  of  soil,  and  which  may,  ere 
long,  be  converted  into  the  circulating  medi- 
um. 

The  cloth  manufactories  of  Russia,  accord- 
ing to  the  report  of  1804,  were  1553  in  num- 
ber, containing  2428  looms  ;  and  employing 
28,689  hands  of  both  sexes.  The  quantity  of 
cloth,  manufactured  that  year  only  for  the  ar- 
my, was  1,806,632  arshins,  orabout  1,405,158 
English  yards. 

The  leather  manufactories,  850  in  number, 
which,  besides  domestic  consumption,  ex- 
ported in  the  year  1804  to  the  value  of  1,786,871 
roubles  ;  as  well  as  the  linen  manufactories, 
285  in  number,  employing  23,711  hands,  and 
enabling  Russia  annually  to  make  consider- 
able exports,  are  too  well  known  to  suppose 


3*  HF.SOUKCES  OF  RUSSIA 

the  Russian  soldier  can  ever  be  in  want  of 
things  so  necessary  to  his  health  and  comfort. 

The  manufactory  of  arms  in  Tula,  from 
1770  to  1780,  produced  upwards  of  162,500 
muskets,  and  63,000  pair  of  pistols,  besides 
the  correspondent  number  of  swords,  sabres, 
and  other  arms,  at  the  low  rate  of  4  roubles 
per  musket,  and  the  rest  in  proportion.  The 
annual  produce  of  this  manufactory  must  have 
materially  increased  since  1780,  though  no  ac- 
count of  it  has  yet  been  published.  There  are 
besides,  several  other  manufactories  of  less 
importance,  which  however  furnish  a  conside- 
rable quantity  of  arms  every  year,  and  secure 
Russia  against  any  want  in  articles  of  such 
indispensable  utility.  The  Russian  soldier 
has  not,  as  yet,  used  any  other  arms  than  what 
were  manufactured  at  home.  A  small  supply 
from  England,  in  the  last  war,  had  for  its  ob- 
ject to  assist  Prussia,  and  was  not  received  in 
time. 

The  copper  mines  of  Russia,  through  the 
means  of  her  founderies,  can  always  supply 
her  with  the  requisite  proportion  of  cannon. 
Her  iron  mines  are  too  well  known  to  need 
any  comment  ;  and  the  produce  of  her  gold 
and  silver  mines  is  nearly  the  whole  circula- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  35 

ting  specie,  the  amount  of  which  has  already 
been  mentioned.  Her  lead  mines  are  also 
sufficient  to  supply  her  wants  ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing is  the  annual  quantity  of  metal  in 
pouds,  and  value  in  roubles. 

Pouds.  Roubles.    Coprcks.  Value  in  roubles. 

Gold                   40  1  6,000      pr.   poud  600,000 

•Silver             1300  KOOO          „  1,300,000 

Lead          50;000  4          „  400,000 

Co/ifier    185,000  20          „  7,000,000 

Iron      8000,000  4,80     „  14-.000000 


Total    8s236,340  Total   20,400,000 

Owing  to  the  natural  abundance  of  all  the 
necessary    materials,     the     quantity  of  gun- 
powder manufactured  in  Russia  has   always 
been  more  than  sufficient  not  only  for  public 
purposes  but  for  the  private  use  of  individu- 
als.    The  frequent  fire- works,  being  the  fa- 
vourite amusement  of  the  Russians  in  general, 
are  supposed  to   consume  more  gunpowder 
than  would  supply  the  army  of  a  moderate 
power.     For  want  of  documents  to  ascertain 
the  exact  quantity  with  which  Russia  is  yearly 
furnished  ;  we  must  take  its  cheapness  as  the 
criterion  of  its  abundance.     The  foreign  sup- 
ply   of  powder  as  well  as  lead,   which    was 
drawn  from  England  during  the  late  war,,  was 


36  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

merely  on  account  of  the  ships  of  the  line 
which  were  at  a  distance  from  home. 

It  does  not  come  within  my  present  object 
to  give  a  statement  of  all  the  manufactures  in 
Russia,  which,  generally  speaking,  are  such 
as  to  make  her  independent  in  all  the  necessa- 
ries, and  in  some  of  the  luxuries  of  civilized 
life  ;  and  it  was  sufficient  to  mention  -jnly 
those  which  are  intimately  connected  with  the 
maintenance  of  her  military  force,  in  order  to 
shew  that  her  efforts  are  not  likely  to  experi- 
ence a  check  from  any  failure  of  natural  or  ar- 
tificial resources,  as  regards  her  own  defence 
and  protection.  We  shall,  however,  be  fur- 
ther convinced  of  this  by  considering  at  what 
small  expense  her  armies  are  supported,  and 
how  ample  are  her  nominal  or  pecuniary 
means,  in  relation  to  the  real  commodities  or 
necessaries,  which  she  can  always  purchase 
from  her  own  subjects,  and  obtain  from  her 
own  soil. 

The  whole  of  her  regular  forces  cost  in 
time  of  peace  only  10,683,711  roubles  ; 
which,  in  proportion  to  her  revenue,  being  a 
little  more  than  a  15th  part  of  the  whole,  is 
certainly  cheaper  than  in  any  military  nation  in 
Europe.  In  time  of  war,  the  additional  ex- 
pense is  only  200,000  roubles  ;  and  if  we  add 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR. 

the  irregular  troops,  which,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  officers,  receive  their  pay  only  for  the 
time  of  actual  service,  we  cannot  be  far  from, 
truth  in  stating  the  whole  expense  at  11  mil- 
lion roubles  ;  a  very  small  portion,  which  can 
be  easily  spared  from  the  revenue  of  115  mil- 
lions. 

The  first  idea  that  occurs  on  seeing  this 
statement  is,  the  miserable,  starving  state  of 
the  soldier  ;  but  the  advantage  of  possessing 
real  means  will  soon  banish  this  idea,  and 
shew  the  Russian  soldier,  though  apparently 
worse  paid,  yet  substantially  better  maintained 
perhaps  than  in  any  other  country.  The  ave- 
rage sum,  which  he  receives,  about  12  roubles 
and  50  copecks  a  year,  is  certainly  a  trifling 
pay  ;  but  then  he  is  provided  with  flour  and 
other  articles  of  provision,  which  are  sufficient 
to  support  him  through  the  year,  and  enable 
him  in  some  measure  to  consider  his  pay  as 
mere  pocket  money.  His  clothing,  which  is 
entirely  at  the  expense  of  government,  costs 
only  12  roubles  extra  ;  and  affords  an  addi- 
tional proof  that  a  government,  possessed  of  a 
revenue  so  large  in  proportion  to  its  expenses, 
can  raise,  in  self-defence,  increase,  and  main- 


•UKSOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

tain  a  force  adequate  to  every  political  emer- 
gency. 

How  far  we  may  rely  on  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  Russian  population,  under  a  well 
directed  government,  history  can  furnish 
facts  on  which  it  will  be  perfectly  safe  and 
just  to  reason. 

During  the  period  of  terror  and  desolation, 
which  terminated  in  the  election  of  Michael, 
ancestor  of  Peter  the  Great,  to  the  Russian 
throne,  the  reins  of  government  were  aban- 
doned to  the  uncontrolled  rage  of  anarchy 
and  lawless  faction,  and  Russia,  torn  by  inter- 
nal and  external  wars,  was  neither  able  to 
crush  the  domestic  traitor  that  fed  upon  her 
vitals,  nor  resist  the  insolence  and  wanton 
cruelty  of  the  foreign  invader.  Impostors 
multiplying  fast,  and  rebels  springing  up  on 
all  sides,  harassed  her  provinces  and  preyed 
upon  her  towns  ;  while  the  ferocious  Tartar 
ravaged  her  fields,  and  spread,  far  and  wide, 
the  torrent  of  destruction  over  her  dominions. 
The  rapacious  Pole  found  way  to  Moskow, 
and  held  it  firmly  in  his  grasp  ;  and  the 
Swede,in  the  seeming  garb  of  a  deliverer,  per- 
fidiously seized  on  Novgorod,  and  unblush- 
ingly  extended  his  usurpations  to  other  cities. 


IN    TOE  EVENT  OF  \\All 

The  empire  was  assailed  in  all  its  points  at 
once.  Serpents  nestled  in  its  bosom,  and  its 
extremities  were  lacerated  with  the  edge  of 
the  enemy's  steel.  No  arm  was  uplifted  in  its 
defence  ;  for  the  few,  that  were  faithful  to  its 
cause,  had  been  dispersed  and  exterminated. 
National  spirit  was  subdued,  national  efforts 
were  paralyzed  ;  and  the  country  was  sinking 
apparently  to  rise  no  more.  The  whole  space 
of  Russia  was  within  the  city- walls  of  Nijney- 
Novgorod  ;  and  there  also  was  her  final  de- 
liverance. 

Kuzma  Minin,  a  person  of  mean  condition, 
by  trade  a  butcher,  in  spirit  a  patriot,  and  in 
deed  a  hero,  suddenly  appears  in  the  market- 
place with  all  his  property  at  his  feet.  He 
calls  on  his  townsmen,  he  paints  in  true  col- 
ours the  miseries  of  their  country,  points  to 
his  bare  arms,and  swears  to  exert  them  for  its 
deliverance  or  lose  them  ;  he  points  to  his 
property,  swears  to  sacrifice  it  in  the  common 
cause  ;  and  his  manly  appeal  thrills  like  an 
electrical  shock,  through  every  heart,  and  in  a 
thousand  breasts  at  once  kindles  the  noble 
flame  of  patriotism.  The  citizens  hear  him, 
and  vow  to  conquer  or  to  die.  They  follow 
his  example,  they  bring  all  their  property  to 


4Q  RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

the  common  stock,  they  seize  their  arms,  they 
raise  a  number  of  warriors  from  the  sale  of 
their  effects,  they  enlist  their  children  and  ser- 
vants, they  place  the  gallant  Pojarsky,  a  no- 
ble veteran,  at  their  head,  they  march  against 
the  enemy,  they  drive  him  as  the  rising  tem- 
pest does  the  autumn  leaves  ;  and  in  a  few 
weeks,  the  impostors,  the  rebels,  the  Tartars, 
the  Poles,  and  the  Swedes,  were  seen  no 
more.  Russia,  astonished  and  rejoiced,  could 
only  observe,  by  the  bloody  track  left  behind, 
which  way  her  enemies  had  disappeared.  She 
looked  back  with  the  assured  eye  of  experi- 
ence, respired  with  conscious  gratitude  under 
the  protecting  shadow  of  the  family  of  Ro- 
manow,  and  with  prophetic  delight  contem- 
plated her  future  greatness. 

So  small  were  the  means,  arid  so  great  was 
the  event  ;  yet  nothing  in  all  this  was  extra- 
ordinary or  miraculous.  The  whole  was  the 
natural  result  of  the  inherent  energies  of  Rus- 
sia, which  did  not  break  forth  only  for  want 
of  proper  excitement.  Russia  was  not  pros- 
trated or  undone  ;  she  slept,  and  had  only  to 
wake  in  order  to  shake  off  her  ignominious 
fetters.  It  was  a  giant  stumbling  over  the 
rock  of  faction,  somewhat  hurt,  but  not  crush- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAK.  41 

ed  ;  a  feeble  hand  chanced  to  bind  his 
wounds,  and  helped  him  to  rise — and  his  first 
step  was  a  total  destruction  of  his  foes.  It 
was  a  dormant  mass  of  combustible  ingredi- 
ents, pent  up  for  years  within  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  which  wanted  only  the  help  of  a 
spark  to  throw  off  in  an  instant  the  cumbrous 
weight  that  pressed  it  down. 

Such  was,  and  still  is  the  character  of  the 
Russian  people.  Instead  of  degenerating,  it 
has  improved  with  the  general  civilization  and 
social  order  since  that  time  introduced,  and 
till  now  happily  maintained.  What  benefit 
has  been  subsequently  derived  from  a  charac- 
ter so  improved,  we  may  judge  by  the  glori- 
ous and  unprecedented  reign  of  Peter  the 
Great,  who  with  only  7  million  of  male  pop- 
ulation, and  8  million  roubles  of  revenue, 
was  enabled  to  fortify  the  boundaries,  to  build 
fleets,  to  raise  cities,  to  maintain  armies,  to 
subsidize  his  allies  with  troops  and  treasure, 
to  unite  the  Caspian  and  Black  Sea  with  the 
Baltick,  by  means  of  prodigious  canals — the 
completion  of  which  is  reserved  for  the  happy 
reign  of  Alexander — to  make  head  against  his 
combined  enemies,  and  finally  to  come  off  a 
D* 


42  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

conqueror  from  the  protracted  and  sanguinary 
contest  of  twenty  years. 

And  shall  the  increased  resources  of  Russia 
— shall  her  prowess,  so  often  tried  and  grown 
to  maturity,   be  now  deemed  so  little,  as  to 
excite  no  respect,  and  no  confidence  ?     Shall 
her  advantages  and  her  reputation,  the  labori- 
ous acquisition  of  years,  be  in  a  moment  sur- 
rendered  at   the  shrine  of  that   terrific  idol, 
which  the  name  of  France  has  set  up  for  uni- 
versal worship  and  adoration  ?     Has  the  pros- 
perity, bequeathed  by  Peter  the  Great  to  his 
country,  so  little  solidity  in  it,  that  the  first 
bold  invader  may,  if  he  pleases,  pull  it  down, 
like  some   gorgeous  overgrown    fabric,    too 
heavy  for   its  puny  and  slender  foundation  ? 
No  !  Impossible  !     The  enemy  that  hopes  to 
conquer  Russia,  on  her  own  territory,  must 
be  prepared  to  pay   in  tenfold   measure  for 
each  drop  of  blood  she  sheds,  and  for  each 
groan  that  may  be  extorted  from  her.     Before 
she  falls,  every  one  of  her  700,000  warriors, 
and  more,  if  necessary,  must  be  destroyed  ; 
and  every  one  will  be  preceded  by  many  a  foe 
to  his  grave.     The  Russian  soldier,  ever  since 
he  has  been  invested  with  that  name,  has  not 


IN  THE  EVF.NT  OF  WAIi.  4 

once    yet  flinched   from    combat,*   and    ere 
he  dies,  in  a  cause  so  dear,  will  execute  such 

*  The  individual  superiority  of  the  Russian  soldier 
cannot  be  doubted  by  those,  who  are  in  any  degree 
acquainted  with  his  character.  The  physical  strength 
of  man  is  nearly  the  same  in  all  countries  ;  yet  there 
are  various  and  powerful  causes,  which,  in  the  exer- 
tion and  application  of  that  strength,  may  produce  a 
considerable  difference  between  the  natives  of  one 
country  and  another  ;  local  connection  ;  local  preju- 
dices ;  the  imperceptible  influence  of  a  peculiar  con- 
struction of  laws )  and  a  peculiar  formation  of  society  ; 
temporary  enthusiasm  ;  principle  ;  and  habits  of  life  ; 
are  so  many  causes  whose  operation  is  very  powerful 
in  producing  that  difference.  Thus  a  Frenchman's 
superiority  consists  at  present  in  temporary  enthusi- 
asm^ created  by  the  revolution,  and  maintained  by 
Buonaparte's  subsequent  victories  ;  that  of  an  En- 
glishman in  principle,  a  cause  whose  action  is  per- 
manent,  as  far  as  the  stability  of  the  human  mind  can 
go.  Habits  of  life  are  to  the  body  what  principle  is 
to  the  mind.  The  union  of  both  must  make  the  pos- 
sessor doubly  strong,  and  their  operation  must  be 
more  powerful  and  lasting  in  proportion.  The  Rus- 
sian soldier  is  the  only  one,  perhaps,  in  whom  these 
two  causes  are  closely  united.  The  habits  of  his 
life  are  such,  that  there  is  no  soldier  in  the  world 
whose  wants  are  fewer,  and  who  can  bear  fatigue  and 
the  hardships  of  war  with  equal  fortitude.  He  is 
truly  indefatigable.  He  can  brave  hunger,  thirst* 
weather,  want  of  rest,  unusual  toils,  and  extraordina- 


44  RESOURCES  OF  UUSSIA 

revenge,  as  in  a  short  time  will  leave  the  ene- 
emy  no  victims  to  feed  it. 

ry  privations,  to  the  utmost  and  almost  incredible 
stretch  of  the  physical  powers  of  man.  It  is  by  no 
means  an  uncommon  thing  for  a  Russian  soldier  to 
march  three  days  and  nights  almost  without  inter- 
ruption ;  engage  the  enemy  immediately  ;  fight  again 
for  as  long  a  period  of  time,  and  come  off  victorious. 
It  was  this  extraordinary  physical  strength,  that  is 
acquired  and  improved  by  habit,  which  prevented  the 
otherwise  cenain  junction  of  Moreau  and  Macdonald 
in  Italy  ;  who  never  believed,  never  thought  it  was 
possible  for  one  of  them  to  be  separated  from  the 
other,  and  defeated  by  an  enemy  so  distant  from  both. 

The  f.assive  strength  of  a  Russian  soldier,  or  the 
ability  of  suffering  long  all  bodily  inconveniences, 
owing  to  the  same  habit,  is  almost  unexampled.  As 
to  his  firincijile,  it  is  exclusively  calculated  to  make 
him  invincible. 

That  firincifile  is  founded  upon  religion,  and  sacred 
devotion  to  duty.  He  goes  to  battle  with  an  almost 
certain  anticipation  of  his  end  ;  10  meet  which  he  is 
not  only  resigned,  but  even  determined.  To  die  in 
battle,  he  thinks,  is  a  straight  road  to  Heaven  ^ 
Death,  therefore,  which  is  the  only  enemy  that 
could  make  him  shrink  from  combat,  is  the  very  one 
whom  he  seeks  to  encounter,  and  who,  so  far  from 
being  an  object  of  fear  to  him,  is  that  of  a  joyful  ex- 
pectation of  a  glorious  reward  hereafter.  The  only 
danger  he  knows  and  fears,  is  to  disobey  his  officer's 
commands.  Such  is  his  sense,  opinion,  and  convic- 
tion of  duty,  which  is  constantly  uppermost  in  his 


tes   THE  EVENT  OF  WAIl.  45 

Of  the  pretended  vacillation  of  policy,  with 
which  Russia  has  been  charged,  I  have  only 

thoughts,  excluding  every  idea  of  peril  and  danger, 
that  to  fulfil  it,  to  execute  his  orders,  or  do  nothing- 
contrary  to  them,  is  his  only  system,  admitting  of  no 
modification  in  peculiar  cases  of  imminent  danger,  of 
no  exception,  no  allowance  whatever.  To  perform 
whatever  he  is  commanded,  or  to  die,  is  the  only  al- 
ternative he  adopts.  Were  one  officer,  and  one  sol- 
dier only,  left  on  the  field,  out  of  a  whole  Russian  ar- 
my, and  surrounded  by  thousands  of  the  victorious 
enemy,  the  soldier  would  not  lay  down  his  arms,  if 
the  officer  commanded  him  not  to  do  it.  Indeed, 
there  have  been  instances  approaching  to  this  as  near 
as  possible. 

Sir  Robert  Wilson  says,  the  Russian  soldiers  are 
"  inured  to  the  extremes  of  weather  and  hardship  ;. 
to  the  worst  and  scantiest  food  ;  to  marches  for  days 
and  nights,  of  four  hours  repose  and  six  hours  pro- 
gress ;  accustomed  to  laborious  toils,  and  the  carriage 
of  heavy  burthens  ;  ferocious,  but  disciplined  ;  ob- 
stinately brave,  and  susceptible  of  enthusiastic  excite- 
ments ;  devoted  to  their  sovereign,  their  chief,  and 
their  country. — Religious  without  being  weakened 
by  superstition  ;  patient,  docile,  and  obedient  ;  pos- 
sessing all  the  energetic  characteristics  of  a  barbari- 
an people,  with  the  advantages  engrafted  by  civiliza- 
tion. 

Nature  has  provided   in  them   the   most  excellent 
materials  for  a  military    establishment.     No  genius 


4o  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

to  trace  the  origin  to  that  political  and  self- 
conscicus  delinquency,  which  had  no  other 
means  to  screen  itself  from  the  piercing  eye 

is  required  to  create,  method  is  only  needed  to  ar- 
range, and  ability  to  command. 

No  carnage  intimidates  the  survivors  ;  bullets 
may  destroy,  but  the  aspect  of  death  awes  not,  even 
when  a  commander's  evident  error  has  assigned  the 
fatal  station. — «  Comrades,  go  not  forward  into  the 
trenches,"  cried  out  a  retiring  party  to  an  advancing 
detachment  ;  "  retreat  with  us,  or  you  will  be  lost, 
for  the  enemy  are  already  in  possession."  "  Prince 
Potemkin  must  look  to  that,  for  it  was  he  who  gave 
us  the  order  :  come  on,  Russians,"  replied  the  com- 
mander. And  he  and  his  men  marched  forward,  and 
perished,  the  victims  of  their  courageous  sense  of 
duty. 

When  Beningzen  retired  from  Yankova,  on  the  ap- 
proach of  Buonaparte,  and  sought  to  evade  the  ene- 
my by  forced  marches  in  the  dark  nights  of  a  Poland 
winter,  although  90,000  men  thundered  on  in  close 
pursuit,  the  Russian  murmur  at  retreat  was  so  impo- 
singly audacious,  the  clamour  for  battle  so  loud  and 
reiterated,  the  incipient  disorder  was  so  frightfully 
extending,  that  Beningzen  was  obliged  to  promise 
acquiescence  to  their  demand  ;  and  to  soothe  their 
discontents,  by  an  assurance  that  he  was  marching  to 
reach  an  appropriate  theatre  of  combat.  Gratified  in 
this  request,  they  fought  six  long  days  to  secure  the 
undisturbed  march  of  six  longer,  more  painful,  and 
more  terrific  intervening  nights  ;  but  in  which  alarm> 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  4? 

©f  public   inquiry  ;    and  which  by   a  short 
statement  of  facts  may  still  be  forced  from  its 

anxiety,  and  disorder  mingled  to  such  a  degree,  and 
•so  shattered  the  military  frame,  that  victory  might 
have  been  achieved  against  them  without  the  glory  of 
a  subdued  resistance  ;  yet  when  this  army,  wearied, 
famished,  and  diminished  by  the  loss  of  10,000  men, 
entered  at  Eylau,  their  alignement  for  battle,  order 
regenerated  as  with  the  British  at  Corunna  :  the 
memory  of  former  glories,  and  the  confidence  of  ap- 
prociching  victory  cheered  even  the  most  exhausted  ; 
and  a  spectator  would  have  supposed  that  the  joyous 
acclamations  commemorated  a  success,  instead  of  be- 
ing an  anticipation  of  the  most  sanguinary  trial  that 
was  yet  upon  the  records  of  this  bloody  war.  Such 
was  their  vehement  ardour  to  retrieve  imaginary  dis- 
grace, and  profit  of  a  liberty  to  engage,  that  when  in 
the  evening  before  the  battle,  Beningzen  ordered  the 
village  of  Eylau,  which  had  been  abandoned  by  mis- 
take, to  be  recovered,  and  the  columns  were  in  mo- 
tion to  the  attack,  animated  by  an  expression  in  the 
command,  "  that  the  Emperor  expected  his  troops 
to  execute  the  orders,"  but  afterwards  thinking  it  ad- 
visable, as  the  enemy  was  greatly  reinforced,  to  de- 
sist from  the  enterprize,  he  sent  his  officers  to  coun- 
termand the  service,  "  No,  no,"  exclaimed  every 
voice  ;  the  Emperor  must  not  be  disappointed." 
And  they  rushed  forward,  sheltering  theiv  gallant 
disobedience  under  the  authority  of  an  illusion  crea- 
ted by  their  commander. 

The   desolating    misery  of  a  night   passed  without 
food,    without  any  moisture  to  quench  drought  but 


4S  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

dark  retreat,  and  dragged  into  open  day,  from 
whose  light  it  shrinks  with  such  unequivocal 
terror. 

In  the  war  which  terminated  in  the  peace  of 
Tilsit,  the  emperor  of  Russia  appeared  only 
in  the  character  of  an  ally,  ready  in  conjunc- 
tion with  England  to  assist  the  weaker  pow- 
ers threatened  by  France  ;  the  sudden  disper- 

the  iced  snow,  without  any  shelter,  without  any  cov- 
ering but  the  rags  of  their  garments,  with  bare  and 
wounded  feet,   without  fuel,  without  any  consolation, 
and  sleep  interrupted  by  the  groans  of  the  dying,  or 
preparations  for  action,  not  all  this  complicated  bitter- 
n-Jas  of  condition  could  humble  the  spirit  or  weaken 
the    ardour  of  this    illustrious    host.     Ere    morning; 
dawned  they  stood  to  their  arms  impatient  for  action  ; 
and  in  that  most  memorable  day   established  a  repu- 
tation, which  immortalized  their  courage,  and  great- 
ly influenced  the   preservation  of  their  army,    when 
its  reduced  numbers  were  unequal,  without  such  im- 
pression, to  secure  its  protection.     Their  valour,  in- 
deed,  on  that  day   had   accomplished   the  prayers  of 
mankind,   and    Buonaparte  had  been  on  the  next  an 
hopeless   fugitive,    if  Beningzen   had  yielded  to   the 
intreaties  of  every  general  in  the  field  ;  but  although 
the  fruits  of  victory    were  by  that   decision  wrested 
from  their  possession,    not  Buonaparte,   nor  France^ 
can  pluck  the   laurel  from  their  brows,  which  truth 
and  time  will  to  the  latest  hour  preserve   with  undi- 
imnished  verdure." 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  49 

sion  however  of  the  Prussian  armies,  and  the 
apathy  of  Austria  who  remained  an  indifferent 
spectator,  drove  the  whole  storm  of  war  upon 
Russia,  and  her  sovereign  became,  against  his 
inclination  and  original  intention,  a  principal 
in  the  contest  for  which  he  had  not  been  pre- 
pared. It  was  certainly  in  his  power  to  re- 
cede, since  he  wanted  neither  the  tempting 
opportunity  of  doing  so,  nor  a  combination  of 
circumstances  to  justify  the  step  ;  but  the 
principle  of  honour  was  paramount  to  all  other 
considerations,  and  he  resolved  on  a  strict  and 
faithful  adherence  to  those  pre-existing  en- 
gagements with  England,  which,  though  on 
her  part  yet  to  be  fulfilled,  it  was  repug- 
nant to  his  feelings  to  doubt  ;  and  which,  he 
hoped,  might  yet  inspire  Austria  with  confi~ 
dence,  and  rouse  her  into  activity.  Such 
were  the  sentiments,  and  such  were  the  mo- 
tives that  determined  Alexander  to  continue 
the  war  in  which  he  had  no  immediate  interest, 
and  by  declining  which  he  might  have  spared 
much  horror  and  bloodshed,  and  yet  gained 
the  same  final  advantages  of  additional  security 
and  protection  to  his  frontiers. 

But  Alexander  was  deceived.     The  desti- 
nies of  England  were  no  longer  in  the  same 
E 


oO  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

hands  ;  and  the  illustrious  son  of  Chatham 
was  no  more.  The  man,  whose  active  genius 
was  the  shield  of  protection,  and  whose  word 
was  the  rock  of  confidence  and  the  rallying 
standard  of  the  oppressed  nations,  was  gone  ; 
and  with  him  public  integrity,  generosity,  and 
honour,  which  bloomed  on  the  brow  of  Eng. 
land,  descended  to  the  grave.  His  unostenta- 
tious firmness  was  succeeded  by  arrogant  im- 
becility ;  and  his  skill  and  experience  gave 
place  to  a  splendid  pageantry  of  pretensions, 
ivhieh  the  first  experiment  dissolved  into  a 
mere  noxious  vapour.  The  restless  dema- 
gogues, who  clamoured  during  his  laborious 
life,  seized  on  his  armour,  even  before  the 
body  that  wore  it  was  laid  in  the  earth  ;  but 
they  found  it  more  ponderous  than  they  ex- 
pected, and  staggered  under  its  weight.  They 
clothed  themselves  in  his  plumage  :  but  a 
jackdaw  could  not  be  long  concealed  under 
the  borrowed  feathers  of  a  peacock.  They 
found  that  it  was  much  easier  to  censure  and 
declaim  with  vehemence,  than  govern  and  act 
with  energy  ;  and  that  it  was  less  difficult  to 
command  a  "  keen  encounter  of  tongues," 
than  to  hurl  the  thunderbolt  of  destruction 
upon  the  foe,  and  direct  a  mighty  conflict 


IX  THE  EVENT  OP  WAR.  .51 

between  powerful  nations.  Instead  of  a  sup- 
ple and  elastic  body,which  moved,  contracted, 
or  expanded,  with  a  single  effort,  they  brought 
one  of  monstrous  size,  disjointed,  and  so  con- 
structed, that  one  muscle  hindered  the  motion 
of  another,  and  each  limb  served  a  separate 
head.  On  the  fading  traces  of  a  constellation, 
removed  to  another  and  a  happier  sphere,  they 
came  like  fleeting,  illusive  meteors,  which  it 
would  have  been  certain  destruction  to  fol- 
low. In  short,  the  men  who  at  that  time 
governed  England,  under  the  modest  assump- 
tion of  "  all  the  talents,"  had  neither  candour 
to  disavow  their  engagements,  nor  honesty  to 
fulfil  them  ;  neither  boldness  to  proclaim  their 
wishes  and  predilections,  nor  magnanimity  to 
retract  those  wishes  and  subdue  those  predi- 
lections ;  neither  fear  of  the  success  of 
France,  nor  assurance  of  the  effectual  resist- 
ance of  Russia  ;  neither  sense  and  virtue  to 
be  just  to  others,  nor  policy  and  generosity  to 
assist  their  friends,  and  thereby  render  justice 
to  themselves. 

To  expect  from  men  like  these  any  efficient 
cooperation,  or  an  honourable  discharge  of  the 
obligations  into  which  they  solemnly  entered, 
was  perhaps  the  only  weakness  that  could  ex- 


52  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

pose  Alexander  to  censure  ;  for,  through  the 
flimsy  texture  of  their  promises,  it  was  easy  to 
perceive  they  never  meant  to  perform  them  ; 
and  that  their  first  determination,  on  hearing  of 
the  fate  of  Prussia,  was  to  abandon  the  field  to 
.France,  and  to  throw  no  obstruction  in  the 
progress  of  her  arms.  In  vain  did  the  empe- 
ror of  Russia  remind  them  of  what  was  ex- 
pected from  them.  His  applications  and  re- 
monstrances were  answered  with  soothing 
words,  that  meant  nothing,  and  cost  nothing  ; 
or  softened  with  the  truly  consoling  presence 
of  an  agent,*  who,  instead  of  money,  brought 

*  It  was  said  with  some  reason,  that  Lord  Hutch- 
inson,  encouraged  by  Mr.  Windham,  had  really  en- 
tertained a  notion  of  being,  at  least  virtually,  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  Russian  forces  ;  and  finding 
his  very  moderate  expectation  disappointed,  and  his 
bringing  off  the  British  troops  from  Egypt,  (after 
Abercrombie's  death  had  sealed  their  victory,)  not 
considered  by  the  barbarous  Russians  so  great  an  ex- 
ploit as  he  fondly  imagined  it,  he  grew  morose,  sul- 
len, and  but  too  well  complied  with  the  wishes  of  his 
ruling  friends  at  home,  in  sending  them  despatches 
without  a  single  white  spot  in  them,  and  of  so 
black  a  complexion,  that  it  was  deemed  imprudent  to 
publish  them  ;  as  in  such  case,  it  would  have  beea 
necessary  to  produce  the  despatches  of  Sir  Robert 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAtt.  53 

with  him  pride  enough  to  imagine  himself  the 
supreme  dictator,  and  colours  dark  enough  to 
paint  things  in  the  only  light  in  which  his 
employers  wished  them  to  appear.  Like  a 
boding  raven,  he  hovered  near  the  Russian 
troops  ;  and  his  croakings, though  at  variance 
with  each  succeeding  event,  were  hailed  at 
home  with  that  unfeigned  joy,  which  the  mere 

Wilson,*  who  was  also  with  the  Russian  army  ;  and 
who,  not  having  the  honour  of  being  one  of  the  "  tal- 
ents," and  therefore  not  keen  or  profound  enough  to 
see  things  differently  from  what  they  were,  used 
much  less  ink  in  his  compositions,  than  the  depraved 
consistency  of  the  party  required.  The  whole  of  this 
conduct  was  so  preposterous,  so  palpably  unjust  and 
impolitic,  as  to  be  generally  believed  ;  for  the  great- 
er its  absurdity,  the  more  it  was  palpable  and  charac- 
teristic of  the  party,  possessing  among  other  pecu- 
liarities an  uncommon  sagacity  in  the  choice  and  ap- 
pointment of  agents  and  ministers,  who,  from  the 
great  Lord  Hutchinson  down  to  Mr.  Erskine  (the 
remaining  twig  of  the  talents)  have  always  proved 
themselves  of  the  genuine  stock,  and  by  their  mar- 
vellous independent  self-acting,  and  self-sufficient 
wisdom,  have  seldom  failed  to  widen  the  breach 
which  it  was  their  duty  to  mend,  and  to  irritate  the 
wounds  they  were  sent  to  heal. 

*  The  author  did  not  know  that  Sir  Robert  Wilson  would 
publicly  and  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  do  justice  to  the  Rus- 
sian nation,  by  his  history  of  the  campaign  in  Foland. 

E* 


54  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

possibility  of  doubting  the  prowess  of  Russia 
was  sure  to  inspire. 

One  battle  followed  another  ;  yet  not  a  jot 
of  the  promised  supplies  was  obtained  by  the 
emperor.  Even  when  the  chief  object  of  his 
being  so  urgent  was  understood  to  be  the  re- 
lief of  a  distressed  ally  ;  the  same  niggardly 
economy,  the  same  ungenerous,  penny-wise 
policy,  was  still  pursued  on  the  part  of  the 
British  administration  ;  as  if  to  exhibit  a 
striking  contrast  between  his  disinterestedness 
and  their  meanness,  between  his  noble  perse- 
verance and  their  sordid  obstinancy. 

They  left  nothing  undone  to  probe  his  feel- 
ings to  the  utmost,  and  bring  his  magnanimi- 
ty to  the  most  desperate  trial  ;  still  he  remain- 
ed faithful  to  their  cause. 

Scorning  the  idea  of  subsidy,  he,  at  length, 
applied  for  a  loan  of  five  millions  sterling,  of- 
fering ample  securities  for  the  payment  of  in- 
terest and  principal  ;  and  though  he  was  re- 
fused, still  remained  faithful  to  their  cause. 

To  the  injury  of  refusal  they  added  insult 
by  pretending  to  grant  the  loan,  but  declining 
to  be  security  to  the  British  stockholders, 
who,  of  course,  could  not,  without  such  secu- 
rity from  their  own  government,  gratify  their 
own  wishes  by  complying  with  those  of  the 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAK.  55 

emperor  ;  still  he  remained  faithful  to  the 
cause. 

In  the  attempt  to  relieve  Dantzick,  they 
prevented  him  from  employing  his  ships,  by 
promising  to  send  their  own,  which  promise 
not  being  performed,  Dantzick,  so  important 
to  future  operations,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
French  ;  still  he  remained  faithful  to  the 
cause. 

Instead  of  making  a  descent  on  the  coast  of 
the  Baltick,  they  thought  of  conquests  for 
themselves  ;  and  sent  out  their  puny  expedi- 
tions to  Egypt  and  Constantinople,  as  if  to 
convince  the  world,  by  a  succession  of  ill  luck, 
of  their  eagerness  for  political  depravity,  and 
of  their  want  of  ability  to  execute  even  their 
own  schemes  ;  still  the  emperor  remained 
faithful  to  their  cause. 

They  suffered  him  to  be  lampooned,  and 
laughed  at  his  simplicity  in  fighting  for  no  ob- 
ject at  all  ;  still  he  remained  faithful  to  their 
cause.* 

*  It  is  highly  gratifying  to  the  feelings  of  the  au- 
thor that  his  uniform  prediction  of  the  Prince's  not 
admitting  these  men  to  his  confidence,  have  been 
verified.  In  excluding  them  the  Prince  Regent  has 
evinced  his  consciousness  of  their  shuffling  policy  and 
dishonourable  conduct  towards  the  Russian  govern- 


06  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

In  the  face  of  the  world,  in  the  august 
presence  of  parliament,  they  dared  to  plead 
the  necessities  of  Russia  in  defence  of  their 
deserting  her  ;  and  to  assume  as  the  ground 
of  such  desertion,  her  being  forced  to  fight  in 
consequence  of  their  "  bringing  war  to  her 
door  ;"f  still  he  remained  faithful  to  their 
cause. 

By  their  withholding  all  assistance,  and 
thereby  extinguishing  all  hopes,  till  then  in- 
dulged, of  effectual  cooperation  from  England* 
Prussia  was  not  able  to  collect  even  the 
wrecks  of  her  army  ;  and  Austria,  who  by 
interposing  her  forces  between  France  and 
Buonaparte,  might  have  decided  the  fate  of 
Europe,  remained  irresolute,  and  lost  the  on- 
ly opportunity  she  ever  had  of  recovering  her 

ment  ;  and  has  given  a  fair  pledge  of  his  disposition 
to  do  Russia  justice  whenever  a  fit  opportunity  should 
present  itself. 

t  The  speeches  and  sentiments  of  Mr.  Whitbread, 
a  prominent  star  in  the  "  talent"  firmament.  It  is 
difficult  to  decide  whether  iniquity  or  folly  was  the 
parent  of  such  sentiments  ;  for,  on  one  hand,  there 
was  an  unprincipled  desertion  of  a  friend  in  distress, 
by  the  very  persons  who  had  contributed  to  that  dis- 
tress ;  on  the  other,  there  was  an  infatuation  which 
blinded  them  as  to  the  possibility  of  his  relieving 
himself  at  their  expense. 


*N  THE  EVENT  OP  WAR.  §T 

independence.  In  consequence  of  this  the 
emperor  of  Russia  found  himself  alone,  and 
deserted  by  the  very  powers  for  whose  partic* 
uLir  interest  he  entered  the  lists  with  France  ; 
-'Still  he  remained  faithful  to  the  cause. 

While  he  was  shedding  the  dearest  blood 
of  his  subjects,  the  ruling  party  in  England 
had  the  cruelty  of  pretending  to  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  his  professions,  and  the  hardihood 
to  disregard  the  strongest  proofs  that  can  be 
given  by  a  sovereign  loving  his  people  ;  still 
he  remained  faithful  to  their  cause. 

Buonaparte,  possessing  all  the  wisdom  they 
wanted,  and  much  more,  perceived  at  once 
the  situation  of  Alexander  ;  and  finding  his 
own  invinciblcs  sufficiently  feasted  on  hard 
blows,  professed  his  friendship  for  Russia, 
disclaimed  every  purpose  of  hostility,  sought 
every  opportunity  of  reconciliation,  urged  the 
criminal  duplicity  and  selfishness  of  the  Brit- 
ish administration,  and  the  self-immolating  in- 
difference of  Austria,  offered  even  a  share  of 
his  conquests,*  and,  in  short,  exerted  all  his 

*  It  is  certain  that  Buonaparte  offered  to  Russia 
all  the  country  eastward  of  the  Vistula  ;  but  Alexan- 
der declined  it,  and  accepted  a  small  portion  merely 
for  the  sake  of  a  more  regular  boundary. 

Sir  R.  Wilson,  though  an  English  officer,  writing 


58  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

means,  and  they  were  great,  to  detach  Russia 
from  a  cause  ro  unprofitable  and  hopeless  : 
still  the  Russian  emperor  hesitated  to  comply, 
still  he  would  have  persisted  in  his  sacrifices  ; 
but  at  this  time  he  had  arrived  at  a  point  be- 
yond which  patience  was  a  crime,  and  perse- 
verance nothing  less  than  treason  against  his 
people.  He  therefore  yielded  ;  and  at  Tilsitz 
concluded  that  peace,  which  in  justice  to  his 
own  interests  ought  to  have  been  made  much 
sooner. 

Then  it  was,  that  "  all  the  talents"  were 
confounded  and  astonished,  exclaiming,  with 
a  vacant  stare,  "  who  would  have  thought 
it  ?"#  Then  it  was  that  the  people  awroke 

at  the  time  of  war  between  his  country  and  Russia, 
has  the  following  remark  on  the  peace  of  Tilsitz. 

"  If  it  were  permitted  to  detail  the  political  history 
of  the  preceding  immediate  causes  which  occasioned 
the  treaty  of  Tilsitz,  and  the  emperor's  conduct  on 
that  occasion,  the  sentiment  of  resentment  would  be 
driven  from  every  English  breast.  Never  was  a 
prince,  until  that  fatal  moment,  more  honest,  more 
loyal,  more  devoted  to  the  common  cause  : — Never 
did  a  prince  struggle  with  greater  difficulties  to  di- 
rect perseverance  ;  and  when  he  yielded,  he  yielded 
only  in  the  hope  of  serving  his  country." 

*  Mr,    Sheridan    on  a  former    occasion  related 
story,  which  he  little  expected   would  so  soon  apply 


IN  THE,  EVENT  OF  WAR.  69 

from  their  lethargy,  drove  these  pretenders 
from  their  seats,  and  filled  them  with  men 
who  talked  less  but  performed  more,  and  who, 
by  coming  in  one  month  sooner,  might  have 
yet  preserved  the  friendship  of  Russia. 

But,  though  this  change  of  men  and  meas- 
ures came  too  late  to  retrieve  the  mischief,  it 
was  not  too  late  to   call  its  authors  to  an  ac- 
count.    In  vain  the  great  Lord  Hutchinson 
committed  a  breach  of  confidence  by  disclos- 
ing the  private  conversations  he  had  with  the 
emperor   Alexander.     His    own   vanity   was 
gratified  in  being  known  to  have  conversed 
with  an  emperor  ;    but  his  friends  were  ill 
served,  and  driven  to  extremity.     Bad  was 
made  worse,  and  they  had  to  choose  between 
humiliating  confession  and  open  dereliction  of 
principle  ;  which  last,  having  dared  already  to 
boast  of  it,  their  pride  induced  them  to  main- 

to  his  own  political  friends.  A  good  housewife,  he 
said,  to  prevent  a  cat  from  doing  mischief,  shut  the 
poor  grimalkin  in  a  closet  full  of  china  and  various 
dainties  ;  and  when,  on  opening  the  closet,  she  found 
her  fine  china  scattered  in  fragments,  and  the  dain. 
lies  some  gone,  and  some  polluted  with  "  touch  im- 
pure," she  was  petrified  with  grief  and  horror  ;  her 
arms  were  extended,  her  eyes  rolled  wild,  and  she  at 
length  exclaimed  :  «  who  would  have  thought  it  ?>' 


Q2  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

tain  without  hesitation.  They  nobly  resolved 
to  shift  ail  blame  upon  Russia,  to  call  her  con- 
stancy vacillation  of  policy \  and  to  defend 
their  own  conduct  on  the  ground  that  Russia 
had  neither  strength,  means,  nor  skill  to  resist 
France  ;  and  that  they,  foreseeing  her  certain 
defeat,  like  honest  patriots  and  wise  statesmen, 
thought  it  was  best  to.  keep  the  promised 
sums  at  home. 

However,  as  the  three  successive  battles  of 
Pultusk,  Eylau,and  Friedland,the  most  bloody, 
protracted,  and  obstinate  the  French  ever 
fought,  stared  the  plotting  junto  in  the  face* 
and  proved  to  the  world  that  Russia  wanted 
neither  strength,  means,  nor  skill  ;  and  as  the 
terrible  defeats  foretold  by  these  inspired  seers 
had  not  yet  taken  place,  they  set  about  to  dis- 
prove facts  by  speculations,  and  to  convince, 
whom  they  could,  that  what  has  happened 
ought  not  to  have  happened.  But  even  in  this 
they  had  not  the  merit  of  originality  ;  for 
Voltaire,  in  his  tale  of  Zadig,  had  long  ago  in- 
troduced a  certain  quack  personage,  who  find- 
ing that,  contrary  to  his  prediction,  Zadig  re- 
covered one  of  his  eyes,  wrote  a  large  volume 
to  prove  that  the  patient  OUGHT  certainly  tv 
have  lost  it  / 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  61 

The  separate  peace,  which  Russia  made 
with  France,  they  tried  to  convert  into  a 
measure  brought  on  by  wavering  policy,  and 
enforced  by  fear  and  necessity  ;  whereas  they 
well  knew  it  to  be  their  own  work  from  letters 
received  in  London  long  before  the  battle  of 
Friedland,  in  which  letters  the  departure  of 
Alexander  for  the  army,  and  the  probable 
event  of  peace,  in  consequence  of  their  own 
neglect  and  equivocation,  were  commented 
upon,  and  foreseen  with  more  certainty  than 
what  was  found  in  their  own  gloomy  prophe- 
cies of  the  fall  of  Russia.  From  the  empe- 
ror's requiring  their  aid  and  assistance,  they 
endeavoured  to  establish  the  conclusion,  that 
they  were  right  in  supposing  Russia  destitute 
of  resources,  and  unable  to  resist  the  enemy  ; 
but  they  took  good  care  not  to  explain,  that 
the  emperor  required,  what  was  in  some 
/measure  his  due ;  that  he  was  not  acting  in  his 
own  defence  ;  and  neither  surprise  had  allowed 
him  time  for  preparation,  nor  the  foreign  inte- 
rest, for  which  he  took  up  arms,  made  it  wise 
or  just  to  waste  his  internal  resources. 

In  short,  they  set  every  engine  in  motion  to 
coin  the  basest  metal  into  their  defence. 
Pamphleteers,  newsmongers,  editors,  travel- 


6 :  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

iers,  agents,  reviewers,  and  whomsoever  they, 
could  press  into  their  service, were  sent  to  hunt 
in  every  direction  and  every  corner,  from  the 
palace  to  the  cottage,  for  any  thing,  ever  so  tri- 
fling, which  might  vilify  the  moral  and  physi- 
cal character  of  the  Russian  nation,  fix  on  its 
sovereign  the  stigma  of  dishonest  policy,  and 
support  the  doctrine  of  its  political  impotence. 
Nay,  with  eagerness  which  betrays  itself,  they 
went  so  far  as,  through  some  of  their  mouth 
pieces,*  openly  to  insult  the  bleeding  victims 
of  French  oppression  with  an  insinuation,  that 
it  is  much  better  to  b&  enslaved,  prostrated, 
trampled  upon  by  France^  than  to  hope  or  seek 
for  consolation  and  deliverance  in  the  suspend- 
ed, but  not  yet  palsied,  efforts  of  Russia. 

I  must  dismiss  the  disagreeable  subject,  as 
1  cannot,  I  own,  even  at  this  distance  of  time, 
treat  it  with  becoming  temper  ;  I  will,  there- 
fore, proceed  to  the  next,  of  foreign  influence 
and  corruption. 

*  Vide  the  concluding  part  of  the  Review  of  Dr. 
Clarke's  "  Travels  in  Russia"  in  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view. 

Sir  R.  Wilson  positively  denies  all  the  infamous 
and  libellous  charges  against  the  Russian  nation,  de- 
tailed by  Dr.  Clarke,  and  backed  by  the  Edinburgh 
Reviewer^ 


I-N  THfc  EVENT  OF  WA1K 


Fears  and  apprehensions  on  this  score  are 
not  only  exaggerated^  but  appear  to  me  totally 
groundless.  Foreign  influence  and  corrup- 
tion, and  their  offspring  treason,  have  visited 
every  country  ;  yet  that  such  visitors  were 
l&ver  treated  with  more  welcome  in  Russia,  than 
in  any  other  country,  is  an  opinion  not  sup- 
ported by  facts  and  experience.  •  Ever  since 
the  time  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  had  estab- 
lished the  government  on  a  solid  foundation, 
traitors  have  been  scarce  and  harmless  in 
Russia.  The  so-much-dreaded  French  influ- 
ence, which  carries  deadly  corruption  on  its 
tongue,  has  not  yet  reached  her  ;  for,  what 
appears  influence  at  present  is  only  the  com- 
mon effect  of  peace^  caused  by  the  preceding 
enmity  of  that  faction,  which  had  unfortunate- 
ly governed  Great-Britain.  During  the  last 
and  the  former  contest  with  France,  some  in- 
stances of  mismanagement  may  have  appear- 
ed ;  but  not  a  single  one  of  treachery  ;  which, 
until  it  is  established,  cannot  be  without  fla- 
grant injustice  imputed  to  any  of  the  Russian 
subjects. 

The  truth  is,  that  in  Russia,  while  the  pow- 
er of  the  sovereign  is  more  than  sufficient  at 
any  time  to  crush  treason  in  the  shell,  and 


64  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

while  the  motives  to  cherish  foreign  influence 
and  corruption  are  as  few  as  in  any  country 
whatever  ;  the  means  of  spreading  such  influ- 
ence and  corruption  are  very  difficult,  and,  I 
may  say,  impracticable.  There  are  no  politi- 
cal parties,  no  factions  to  agitate  the  mass  of 
the  people,  or  give  to  the  public  mind  any 
general  impulse  inconsistent  with  the  interest 
of  government,  which  is  always  the  interest 
of  the  country,  both  being  permanently  united. 
Nor  is  there  the  least  chance  of  success  in 
propagating  any  specious  doctrines,  pregnant 
with  latent  mischief,  through  some  surrepti- 
tious means  or  underhand  channel  ;  for  no 
press  can  be  hired  to  publish  treason,  no  hands 
can  be  found  to  distribute  its  poison,  and,  if 
the  vigilance  of  government  should  be  so  far 
baffled  by  a  kind  of  miracle,  the  people  at 
large  will  neither  read  nor  understand  the  jar- 
gon submitted  to  them.  The  Russian  peas- 
antry would  laugh  at  the  French  rhapsodies, 
which  have  misled  and  ruined  so  many  na- 
tions ;  I  say  they  would  laugh,  because  they 
have  actually  done  so,  whenever  a  few  partial 
attempts  have  been  made  to  seduce  them 
from  their  allegiance.  The  sword  is  the  only 
weapon  which  can  be  used  in  penetrating  into 
Russia. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  66 

The  two  most  important  departments,  civil 
and  military,  where  influence  and  corruption 
are  most  to  be  dreaded,  are  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  nobles  and  the  sons  of  clergy. 
The  former  enjoy  so  many  immunities,  such 
legitimate  influence,  and  such  vast  posses* 
sions,  that,  independent  of  family  pride  and 
domestic  partialities,  their  very  interest,  being 
identified  with  that  of  the  sovereign  and 
country,  makes  them  proper  and  safe  guar- 
dians of  national  welfare.  Their  yielding  to 
corruption  would  be  digging  a  grave  for  them- 
selves, and  inviting  the  first  murderous  blow 
of  treason  to  their  own  heart.  Accordingly, 
they  have  always  been  ready  to  shed  their 
blood  in  the  preservation  of  their  country  ; 
and  in  the  records  of  history  they  have  always 
filled  the  first  rank  among  the  Russian  patri- 
ots. Any  peculiarity,  or  difference  of  politi- 
cal sentiment,  which  may  have  induced  them 
to  act  under  the  appearance  of  some  secret 
foreign  influence,  has  nothing  in  common  with 
corruption  ;  and  only  shews  that  freedom,  of 
which  they  cannot  be  easily  deprived,  and 
which  strangers  afiect  to  discredit ;  but  which 
nevertheless  is  actually  enjoyed  under  the  mo- 
narchical government  of  Russia. 
F*  " 


66  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

The  clergy,  as  a  distinct  body,  share  with 
the  nobility  some  of  the  most  important  priv- 
ileges, such  as  exemption  from  taxes,  and 
from  all  the  burthens  of  military  service,  and 
also  a  right  to  be  judged  in  criminal  cases  by 
their  peers  in  the  ecclesiastical  court  ;  but 
their  sons,  who  are  employed  in  the  most  la- 
borious and  important  offices 'under  govern- 
ment, besides  the  rights  inherited  from  their 
fathers,  have  [the  prospect  of  nobility  before 
them.  Their  education  in  colleges,  and  after- 
wards in  universities,  confers  on  them  person- 
al nobility,  and  if  they  do  not  choose  to  return 
to  the  profession  of  their  fathers,  a  few  years  of 
faithful  service  and  irreproachable  conduct 
makes  their  nobility  hereditary,  and  opens  the 
way,  on  a  level  with  the  most  ancient  and  ex- 
alted families,  to  the  highest  trusts,  dignities, 
and  honours  in  the  empire.  This  class,  which 
has  the  greatest  share  of  talent  and  youthful  ac- 
tivity, has  also  the  greatest  losses  to  fear,  the 
greatest  advantages  to  gain,  and  the  strongest 
excitements  of  ambition  to  be  honest  ;  and, 
therefore,  being  triply  fortified,  is  inaccessible 
to  corruption. 

Nor  are  the  other  classes  debarred  from  all 
these  advantages,  provided  they  are  inclined  to 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  67 

enter  the  service,  and  had  received  an  educa- 
tion to  qualify  them  for  these  honours.  It  is  the 
happy  feature  of  the  Russian  government,  en- 
forced and  perpetuated  by  the  immortal  ex- 
ample of  Peter  the  Great,  that  the  nobility, 
though  entitled  to  all  their  special  and  indi- 
vidual privileges,  are  excluded  from  official 
precedence,  unless  they  obtain  it,  like  the  rest, 
by  personal  merit  or  service  ;  so  that  the  son 
of  a  clergyman,  merchant,  or  even  a  peasant,* 
by  a  higher  advancement  in  office,  obtains  a 
positive  preeminence  over  the  son  of  a  noble- 
man ;  and  a  prince  or  a  count,  both  in  milita- 
ry and  civil  service,  is  often  placed  under  the 
immediate  command  of  a  person  of  low  ori- 
gin. This  produces  an  equality  of  chances 
and  advantages,  in  the  preservation  of  which  all 
ranks,more  or  less,  are  interested  and  united. 

The  Russian  merchant,  though  enjoying 
many  important  privileges,  gives  himself  up 
to  trade  and  industry,  and  never  meddles  in 
politics.  A  shield  of  national  prejudice 
guards  him  from  all  foreign  influence  and  cor- 
ruption ;  and  he  is  thrown  into  the  mass  of 

*  A  cerf  becomes  free  the  moment  he  enters  the 
service,  and  the  road  of  honour  is  open  to  him  on 
an  equality  with  the  rest. 


68  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

population,  which,  besides  the  same  prejudice, 
has  loyalty  interwoven  with  its  very  nature, 
habits,  and  religion. 

That  class  of  peasantry,  which  Europeans 
call  slaves,  and  on  whose  impatience  they  cal- 
culate the  enemy's  success,  are  not  numerous 
nor  important  enough  to  endanger  the  safety  of 
the  empire,  even  were  they  inclined  to  do  so  ; 
but  they  view  their  own  happiness  without 
borrowing  the  eyes  of  strangers,  and  have  in 
no  instance  as  yet  failed  in  loyalty,  or  appeared 
inferior  to  other  classes  in  their  attachment. 
The  glorious  little  band,  which  had  saved 
Russia  under  Pojarsky  and  Minin,  as  has  been 
stated  in  a  preceding  page,  was  chiefly  com- 
posed of  this  class  of  men.  They  have,  at  all 
times,  furnished  the  bravest  and  the  best  sol- 
diers for  the  Russian  army — soldiers,  who, 
according  to  the  enemy's  own  account,  when 
prostrated  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  while  a 
single  spark  of  life  is  remaining  in  them,  al- 
ways, before  they  expire,  cast  a  lingering  look 
of  farewell  towards  their  beloved  country.* 

*  Sir  R  Wilson  says  :  "Amidst  the  Russian  qualities, 
the  love  of  country  is  also  pre-eminent,  and  insepar- 
able from  the  Russian  soldier.  This  feeling  is  par- 
amount>  and  in  the  very  last  hour  his  gaze  is  direct- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR,  <J9 

Even  the  Polish  peasantry  of  the  same  condi- 
tion, and  so  lately  subjected,  have  completely 
disappointed  the  views  of  Buonaparte,  whose 
public  proclamations,  preceding  the  last  war, 
prove  how  much,  and  how  prematurely,  he 
had  relied  on  their  co-operation. 

From  men  so  devoted,  what  cannot  be  ex- 
pected, when  their  unchangeable  loyalty  is 
further  strengthened  by  uncommon  love  and 
attachment  to  the  person  of  Alexander,  who 
like  a  benignant  deity  smiles  upon  them,  and 
by  sure  and  gradual  steps  leads  them  all  to  the 
temple  of  freedom  ?f 

ed  towards  its  nearest  confines.  The  wounded  drag 
their  mangled  bodies  over  the  field  to  expire  with 
more  satisfaction  in  the  effort  of  approaching  them." 
t  It  was  reserved  for  this  truly  benevolent  prince 
to  complete  the  happiness  of  Russia  by  devising  a 
plan,  which  in  a  short  time  will  emancipate  every 
portion  of  its  population.  He  has  caused  a  consid- 
erable fund  to  be  laid  apart  and  augmented  every 
year  from  the  general  revenue,  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  taking  on  mortgage  and  redeeming  the  estates 
with  peasantry  ;  and  of  purchasing  such  as  are  offer- 
ed for  sale,  by  means  of  agents  established  for  that 
end  in  every  province  of  the  empire.  The  success 
has  answered  the  most  sanguine  expectations  ;  and 
several  hundreds  of  thousands  have  already  been  eman- 
cipated, and  restored  to  their  proper  rank  in  so- 
ciety. 


70  RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

In  short,  among  the  causes  which  may  ope- 
rate against  Russia,  foreign  influence  and  cor- 
ruption, which  to  be  effectual  must  be  exten- 
sive, are  the  least  to  be  feared  ;  while  on  the 
opposite  side,  she  has  many  sources  yet  unex- 
plored,and  perhaps  unsuspected.  It  is  proba- 
ble, that  the  extremity  of  distress  would  only 
make  Russia  better  acquainted  with  her  own 
strength  ;  at  all  events,  she  is  certain  of  com- 
manding all  that  invincible  force,  which  en- 
thusiasm can  impart  and  exalted  patriotism 
can  inspire. 

During  the  last  war,  no  sooner  had  the 
government  proclaimed  the  project  of  raising 
militia,  than  600,000  men  were  immediately 
enlisted  and  equipped  for  the  field.  The  no- 
bles set  the  first  example,  and  the  ardour 
thereby  excited  in  all  the  ranks  was  incredi- 
ble. The  spirit  of  emulation  removed  all 
distinction  between  the  prince  and  the  peasant; 
and  conferred  it  only  on  those,  who  made  the 
greatest  sacrifices.  For  two  or  three  years 
afterwards,  the  public  papers  teemed  with  the 
names  of  those  patriots,  who  had  contributed 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR,  M 

their  mite  to  the  common  stock.  Some  gave 
all  their  personal  effects,  and  some  disposed  of 
their  houses,  in  order  to  enlist  and  maintain 
their  new  character;  while  others  parted  with 
all  the}7  possessed  in  order  to  bring  the  pro- 
duce into  the  public  fund  which  was  raising  for 
the  support  of  this  new  race  of  warriors.  In- 
stances occurred  of  gentlemen  selling  their 
whole  estates,  that  they  might  raise  whole  regi- 
ments at  their  own  expense,  and,  at  the  head  of 
them,  present  themselves  to  the  delighted  eye 
of  their  monarch.  After  this,  it  would  be  an  in- 
sult to  suspect  among  the  nobles,  or  any  other 
class  of  the  Russian  people,  the  existence  of 
foreign  influence  and  corruption. 

With  regard  to  the  defects  of  the  military 
system  of  Russia,  I  know  not  on  what  ground 
this  opinion  has  been  permitted  to  prevail  ;  or 
why  the  successes  of  Russia  have  been  over- 
looked and  forgotten,  as  if  they  were  merely 
accidental ;  and  her  failures  uniformly  attribu- 
ted to  some  permanent  defects  in  her  military 
system,  such  as  want  of  skill  in  officers  and 
discipline  in  soldiers. 

Wliile  other  European  nations,  who  have 
opposed  France  with  much  less  effect,  and 
have  been  crippled  and  ruined,  still  were  al- 


T2  RESOURCES  OP  RUSSIA 

lowed  to  retain,  in  the  public  estimation,  their 
original  military  character  ;  Russia  alone,  af- 
ter sustaining  several  contests  without  being 
either  crippled  or  ruined,  cannot,  it  seems, 
lose  a  battle,  or  a  single  inch  of  ground,  with- 
out losing  at  the  same  time  her  military  fame, 
and  exciting  distrust  as  to  the  skill  of  her  offi- 
cers and  the  discipline  of  her  soldiers.  If  the 
French  are  beaten,  it  is  considered  as  the  effect 
of  accident  ;  but  if  the  Russians  fail,  they  are 
instantly  deprived  of  all  the  indulgence,  which 
might  be  claimed  from  the  unforeseen  opera- 
tion of  chance. 

An  army,  equal  and  even  inferior  in  skill 
and  discipline,  may  beat  another,  better 
equipped,  merely  by  the  temporary  superiori- 
ty of  its  general  and  the  adventitious  aid  of 
numbers,  without  depriving,  however,  the 
vanquished  of  the  credit  due  to  them  ;  yet, 
with  regard  to  the  Russians,  no  allowance  is 
made  in  this  respect,  though  it  is  well  known 
that  the  French,  whenever  they  opposed 
them,  had  the  double  advantage  of  an  able 
and  experienced  general,  and  of  numbers 
greatly  superior.  If  Massena  at  the  head  of 
a  French  army  engaged  Buonaparte  at  the 
head  of  another  French  army,  and  either  of 
•them  were  defeated,  as  both  could  not  be  vie- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OP  WAR.  ?3 

iorious;  the  comment  would  be,  that  the  con- 
queror  was  a  better  general  or  had  a  superior 
force,  or  that  both  were  in  his  favour  ;  and 
none  would  say,  that  the  beaten  army  wanted 
good  officers  and  discipline  ;  why  then  the 
reverses  of  the  Russians, under  similar  circum- 
stances, should  be  viewed  in  a  different  and 
less  favourable  light,  appears  to  me  a  mani- 
fest injustice,  and  mysterious,  incomprehensi- 
ble infatuation. 

In  all  the  sanguinary  battles,  which  took 
place  in  Poland,  the  Russians  were  decidedly 
inferior  in  numbers,  and  their  general  was  by 
no  means  equal  in  reputation  to  Buonaparte. 
Moreover,  they  fought  fair,  breast  to  breast, 
and  face  to  face,  in  an  open  field,  without  any 
local  advantages  to  counterbalance  the  disad- 
vantages under  which  they  laboured — to  speak 
more  technically,  they  fought  general  engage- 
ments or  regular  pitched  battles,  one  after 
another,  and  upon  the  largest  possible  scale  ; 
yet,  far  from  being  dispersed,  routed,  or  disa- 
bled from  action,  they  firmly  maintained  their 
ground,  and  whenever  it  was  necessary,  re- 
treated in  perfect  order, — retreated  before  a 
veteran  and  more  numerous  army,  command- 
ed by  Buonaparte  and  the  greatest  generals  of 


F4  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

the  age  !  How  could  the  Russians  have  done 
this,  if  they  had  not  skilful  officers  to  com- 
mand every  movement,  and  execute  every  or- 
der with  promptitude  and  habitual  intelli- 
gence ?  If  they  did  want  such  officers  and 
good  discipline,  in  addition  to  all  other  disad- 
vantages ;  then  Napoleon,  his  generals,  and 
his  army,  are  not  deserving  half  the  credit  giv- 
en them  ;  for  they  ought,  in  an  instant,  to 
have  annihilated  their  weak  adversaries.  But 
if  Napoleon,  his  generals,  and  his  army,  be 
fairly  entitled,  and  I  think  they  are  so,  to  all 
their  fame  and  renown  ;  then  the  Russians, 
who  could  oppose  them  with  such  well  direct- 
ed efforts,  and  with  such  well  regulated  brave- 
ry could  fight  in  retreating,  and,  for  a  series 
of  days,  disputing  every  inch  of  ground  with 
the  enemy,  without  the  least  disorder  or  any 
other  loss  than  was  occasioned  by  death, 
must  have  had  officers  and  discipline  of  no  or- 
dinary kind,  but  such  as  were  grown  with 
years,  and  matured  by  experience  ;  such  in 
short,  as  cannot  be  easily  arrested  in  their 
progress,  and  must  continue  unimpaired  by 
any  temporary  or  accidental  advantages  of  the 
enemy. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  first  regular  Rus- 
sian army  failed  at  the  battle  of  Narva  ;    but 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  75 

Peter  the  Great,  who  had  formed  that  army, 
soon  placed  it  on  a  foundation  not  to  be  easily 
shaken.  The  very  men,  who  had  thus  fled  at 
the  sight  of  an  enemy,  in  a  short  time  were 
able  to  face  him,  and  beat  him  upon  equal 
terms.  The  Swedish  general  Schlippenback 
in  Livonia,  and  another  Swedish  general, 
Crooniort,  in  Finland,  only  two  years  after, 
were  each  defeated  with  a  terrible  loss  in  a 
pitched  battle  ;  and  were  the  first  to  feel  the 
valour  of  the  Russians,  directed  by  skill  and 
discipline.  At  the  action  of  Czarnapata, 
prince  Galitzin,  with  only  8  battalions  and  13 
squadrons,  completely  defeated  and  routed  a 
Swedish  force  of  5000  men,  commanded  by 
general  Rosen,  and  the  best  in  the  king's  ar- 
my. At  the  battle  of  Lezno,  Peter  the 
Great,  who  commanded  in  person,  with  10 
regiments  of  horse  and  10  battalions  of  foot, 
attacked,  routed,  and  took  20  Swedish  regi- 
ments, amounting  in  all  to  16,000  men, 
whom  general  Lewenhaupt  was  leading  to 
the  king's  assistance  :  the  general  himself, 
and  about  50  men  more,  were  all  that  escap- 
ed. At  the  memorable  battle  of  Poltava, 
where  the  Russian  force  was  divided  into 
three  lines,  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  reserve  to 


76  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

each  other,  the  first  line  of  foot,  10,000  men 
strong,  was  the  only  one  engaged  in  the  main 
action,  and  had  the  honour  of  defeating  a  most 
formidable  enemy,  before  it  was  necessary  to 
bring  the  rest  to  its  assistance  ;  a  wonderful 
progress  of  skill  and  discipline*  in  nine  years, 

*  The  fallowing  anecdote  will  further  convince  us 
of  the  loyalty  and  discipline  of  the  Russian  soldier. 
Peter  the  Great,  at  an  interview  with  the  kings  of 
Denmark  and  Poland,  hearing  them  boast  of  the  su- 
periority of  their  soldiers,  instead  of  disputing  the 
point  with  them,  proposed  an  experiment  which  was 
immediately  assented  to,  and  which  was,  to  order  a 
grenadier  to  jump  out  of  a  third  floor  window.  The 
king  of  Denmark  tried  the  experiment  on  one  of  his 
bravest  and  most  loyal  soldiers,  who  on  his  knee  re- 
fused compliance.  The  king  of  Poland  waved  the 
trial  altogether,  conceiving  it  to  be  hopeless  ;  when 
Peter  ordered  one  of  his  soldiers,  the  least  promis- 
ing that  could  be  picked  out,  to  descend  the  window. 
The  soldier  merely  crossed  himself,  touched  his  hat 
according  to  form,  boldly  marched  to  the  window, 
and  had  already  one  of  his  legs  out,  when  the  empe- 
ror stopped  him,  and  told  him  he  was  satisfied.  The 
kings  were  astonished,  and  each  made  the  soldier  a 
present  of  100  ducats,  requesting  Peter  to  promote 
him  to  the  rank  of  an  officer.  The  czar  answered,  that 
he  would  do  so  to  oblige  them,  but  not  to  reward  the 
soldier  ;  for  all  his  soldiers  would  do  as  much,  and 
by  rewarding  them  in  the  same  way  he  would  have  no 
soldiers  left. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  77 

and  perfectly  authenticated  by  the  official  ac- 
count of  that  battle. 

The  same  progress  was  visible  at  sea  ;  for 
the  first  regular  fleet  which  Peter  had  built, 
and  fitted  out  under  his  own  command,  attack- 
ed a  Swedish  fleet  commanded  by  vice-admi- 
ral Ehrenchield  ;  and,  though  the  Swedes 
were  much  older  sailors,  their  metal  heavier, 
and  their  commander  an  officer  of  great  skill 
and  experience,  they  were  completely  defeat- 
ed, most  of  their  ships  taken,  and  the  admiral 
himself  made  prisoner. 

Was  all  this  the  effect  of  chance  ?  Has  the 
art  of  war,  since  that  time,  been  less  cultivated 
by  the  Russians  ?  Or  has  their  military  char- 
acter degenerated  ?  Frederick  the  Great, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Berlin,  who  saw  the 
Russian  eagles  planted  on  their  ramparts,  can 
testify  to  the  contrary.  The  young  tree, 
planted  by  the  care  and  genius  of  Peter,  had  a 
soil  too  congenial  and  well  chosen  not  to  thrive,, 
It  has  cast  a  deep  root,  and  is  still  in  its  vig- 
our ;  and  though  the  storm  may  bend  it,  and 
the  frost  may  strip  it  of  its  leaves,  the  chilling 
hand  of  decay  has  not  yet  touched  it. 

I  will  pass  the  victories  over  the  Turks  and 
Poles,  and  bring   Russia  into   contact   with 
G* 


78  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

France,    the   terror   and   the  scourge  of  the 
present  age. 

From  the  year  1799,  when  the  contest  first 
began  between  France  and  Russia,  to  the 
treaty  of  Tilsitz,  there  had  been  seven  great, 
regular,  or  pitched  battles,  fought  in  Italy, 
Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Poland,  and  with 
what  success  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
comparative  statement. 

IN  FAVOUR  OF  RUSSIA.    IN  FAVOUR  OF  FRANCE 

The  decisive  baffle  of  The  battle  of  Zurich, 
Cassarco,where  theFrench  under  Massena,  decisive, 
under  Moreau  were  de-  and  destructive  to  the 
feated  by  Suwarow.  Russians,  who  were  com- 

manded by  Korsakoff. 

The  battle  of  Trebia, 
fought  by  the  same  gen- 
eral, which  lasted  three 
days,  and  terminated  in  None. 

the  total  destruction  of 
the  enemy,  commanded 
by  Macdonald. 

The  battls  of  Novi,  the 
most   bloody    and    obsti- 
nate in  Italy,  which  final- 
ly ended  in   the    decisive  None. 
victory  of  Suwarow   over 

the  French  generals  Jou-  i 

bert  and  Moreau. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR. 


79 


The  battle  of  Pultusk, 
where  general  Beningzea 
repulsed  Buonaparte  with 
great  loss. 


The  horrid,  sanguinary 
battle  of  Eylau,  where 
Beningsen  commanded, 
and  which,  for  its  obsti- 
nacy, slaughter,  and  a 
series  of  bloody  actions, 
that  for  fourteen  days 
preceded  it,  has  no  par- 
allel in  the  history  of 
modern  warfare.  It  com- 
pletely arrested  the  prog- 
ress of  the  French,  and, 
in  spite  of  Buonaparte, 
drove  them  back  into 
winter  quarters. 

The  bloody  battle  of 
Heilsberg,  where  the 
French  under  Buonaparte 
were  repulsed  with  great 
slaughter. 


The    battle    of  Auster- 
HtZj  in   which    the     Rus- 
sians    attacked      Buona- 
parte ;    but   were   driven 
back    with    loss,    though 
they  still  kept  their  first 
position. 

The  battle  of  Fried- 
land,  in  which,  after 
fighting  for  sixteen  days 
incessantly,  Buonaparte 
succeeded  in  driving  the 
Russians  from  their  posi- 
tions ;  and  gained  ground 
without  any  other  advan- 
tage than  the  possession 
of  Konigsberg. 


None. 


From  this  statement,  of  the  correctness  of 
which  any  one  may  judge,  the  events  being 
within  his  memory,  there  is  a  clear  balance  of 
three  battles  in. favour  of  the  Russians  ;  and  a 


SO  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

general  balance  of  decisive  and  destructive 
termination  of  their  victories.  It  also  appears 
that,  even  in  carrying  on  an  offensive  war,  the 
Russians  with  Suwarow  and  equal  numbers, 
were  more  successful  over  the  French,  than 
the  French  with  Buonaparte  and  superior 
numbers  were  over  the  Russians.  But  when 
all  minor  actions  are  considered,  in  which  the 
Russians  had  generally  the  advantage,  such 
for  instance  as  the  exploit  of  prince  Bagration, 
who,  before  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  while  the 
Russian  army  was  retreating,  with  six  thous- 
and men,  and  in  sight  of  Napoleon,  cut  his 
way  through  a  French  army  :  and,  above  all, 
when  we  reflect  on  the  unprecedented  passage 
of  Suwarow  over  the  Alps,  which,  from  his 
first  entrance  into  Switzerland  to  his  quitting 
it,*  was  a  constant  chain  of  brilliant  achieve- 

*  The  Austrian  army,  under  the  Archduke  Charles, 
in  Switzerland,  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  Rus- 
sians whom  Suwarow  was  coming  to  take  under  his 
command,  kept  Massena  in  check,  was  ordered  to 
withdraw  ;  and  the  Russians,  left  to  the  mercy  of  the 
enemy,  more  than  double  in  numbers,  were  attacked 
and  defeated.  The  victorious  enemy  then  turned  his 
main  forces  upon  Suwarow,  cut  off  his  communica- 
tion with  the  fugitives,  and  surrounded  him  on  all 
sides.  No  alternative  remained  apparently,  but  to 


W  THE  EVEST  OF  WAR. 

Hients,  and  an  uninterrupted  series  of  splen- 
did triumphs  over  the  foe,  over  the  perfidy  of 

surrender  at  discretion,  or  starve  by  famine.  The 
enemy  already  made  sure  of  his  prey.  At  one  time, 
Suwarow  was  represented  to  fight  as  a  de-vil^  (Vide 
Massena's  bulletins  to  the  Directory  ;)  at  another, 
to  have  lost  the  whole  of  Jiis  army  (which,  indeed, 
was  scarcely  equal  to  one  fourth  of  the  enemy's  force,) 
in  killed  and  prisoners,  being  himself  among  the  lat- 
ter. But  Suwarow  was  no  ordinary  being.  With 
a  handful  of  men,  who  thought  nothing  impossible 
under  their  general,  and  who  by  death  alone  could 
be  parted  from  him,  he  forced  his  way  sword  in  hand, 
and  led  his  victorious  few  through  the  hostile  ranks 
that  vainly  opposed  them.  The  enemy,  who  the  mo- 
ment before,  confident  in  his  numbers,  was  boasting- 
ly  anticipating  the  fall  of  Suwarow,  was  defeated, 
and,  by  yielding  four  thousand  prisoners,  added  one 
more  to  the  already  numerous  trophies  of  the  aged 
hero.  This  action,  the  last,  but  perhaps  the  most 
splendid  of  all  the  preceding,  closed  the  long  and 
brilliant  career  of  the  illustrious  Veteran,  and  secur- 
ed him  the  title  of  "  Invincible,"  due  to  him  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word,  for  he  never  lost  a  battle. 
It  is  but  justice  to  acknowledge  here,  that  Suwar- 
ow acquitted  the  Archduke  Charles  of  any  ill  inten- 
tion or  equivocal  conduct  towards  the  Russians,  well 
knowing  that  the  Archduke  could  not  have  with- 
drawn his  forces  so  prematurely  from  Switzerland, 
and  expose4  them  to  a  defeat,  without  previous  or- 
ders from  his  Cabinet  j  it  being  the  established  rule 


RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 


an  ally,  and  over  nature  herself;  the  balance  in 
favour  of  Russia  will  be  prodigiously  increas- 


the  Austrian  government,  a  most  preposterous 
and  fatal  rule  to  her  interests,  that  no  commander  in 
chief  can  resolve  upon  any  measure  of  importance, 
though  on  actual  service,  and  at  a  distance  from 
home,  without  receiving  orders  for  that  purpose, 
from  the  Council  of  war  at  Vienna  !  Suwarow 
was  only  five  days'  march  from  the  Russian  army, 
which  was  defeated  in  Switzerland.  Had  the  Aus- 
trians  therefore  waited  only  five  days  longer,  he 
would  have  effected  a  junction  with  it,  and  Massena 
would  have  shared  the  fate  of  the  French  generals  in 
Italy. 

Sir  Robert  Wilson  thus  speaks  of  the  Russian  Vet- 
eran : 

"  Suwarow  was  affectionately  endeared  to  every 
soldier  as  his  parent  ;  and  national  pride  and  per- 
sonal admiration  have  deified  him  as  the  still  pre- 
siding god  of  their  battles. 

An  acquaintance  with  the  composition  of  his  ar- 
mies, a  knowledge  of  their  insignificant  numerical 
strength,*  the  assurance  of  the  internal  impediments 
that  he  had  to  encounter,  certainly  so  augment  the 
merit  of  his  exploits,  that  he  is  entitled  to  the  repu- 
tation of  one  of  the  first  captains  that  ever  appeared. 
His  very  eccentricities  were  characteristic  of  his  su- 
periority of  intelligence.  They  affected  his  estima- 

*  Never  exceeding  35,000,  although  operations  were  con- 
ducted on  the  scale  for  70,000  ;  and  the  court  proclaimed, 
ami  the  public  believed  the  existenccof  that  force. 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  i> 

cd  ;  and  though  she  may  be  now  depressed 
by  bting  deprived  of  her  best  general,  while 
France  is  raised  by  possessing  her's,  the 
assurance  vviii  still  be  sufficient  to  console 
us,  that,  if  Suwarow  could  not  conquer 
France,  Napoleon  cannot  conquer  Russia ; 
that  the  latter  on  her  own  territory  is,  like  the 
former,  invincible  ;  and  that  a  single  genius 
may  produce  many  important  changes,  with- 
out their  being  connected  with  any  difference 
or  permanent  defects  in  the  military  system  of 
either.  It  is  impossible  to  repel  this  assurance 

tion  amongst  superficial  observers  ;  but  he  disdained 
the  sneer  of  the  less  enlightened,  and  steadily  perse- 
vered in  the  course  that  his  wisdom  had  traced  for 
th?  attainment  of  his  patriotic  ambition.     Such  was 
their  enthusiastic  affectio  i  for  hi? IK   that    when  the 
coffin,   in    which    his    body    was    conveyed    into   the 
church  of  the  citadel  to  be  deposited  near  the   re- 
mains of  tne  great  Catherine,  fixe  !  in  the  door-way, 
and  instruments  were  ordered  to  wrench  a  passage 
— one   of  the    grenadier   bearers,    indignant  at   the 
check,    exclamied — "  What    is  all  this  ?      Nothing 
could  resist  Suwarow   living,    and  nothing  shall  stop 
him  dead.'*   The  sentiment  was  hailed  as  a  just  trib- 
ute to    the  invincible  character  of  their  chief.     That 
consciousness  supplied  strength  to  zeal,  and  the  re- 
mains of   Suwarow  were    forced  triumphant  to  the 
grave  1" 


24  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

while  we  behold  Spain  and  Portugal  with  no 
government,  no  resources,  and  no  regular 
foree  but  what  their  ally  furnishes  them,  suc- 
cessfully defying  the  utmost  efforts  of  gigan- 
tic France, 

The  last  campaign  in  Poland,  distressing  as 
it  was  to  the  French,  is  nothing  to  what  they 
must  experience,  if  they  dare  again  to  invade 
it.  At  that  time  the  sudden  overthrow  of 
Prussia  enabled  them  to  seize  on  many  fine 
and  fertile  provinces,  which  furnished  them 
with  necessary  supplies  ;  but  which  are  now 
exhausted,  or  will  be  prevented  from  furnish- 
ing any.  The  more  men  Buonaparte  brings 
with  him,  and  the  farther  he  penetrates  into 
Russia,  the  nearer  he  will  draw  to  the  fate  of 
Charles  XII.  Again  the  Russian  peasants 
will  be  removed,  again  their  habitations  will 
be  destroyed,  and  again  whole  fertile  regions 
will  be,  for  safety,  converted  by  the  Russians 
into  a  barren  wilderness.  The  French,  if 
they  advance,  will  see  nothing  but  the  Russian 
bayonets  bristling  in  front,  and  receding  only 
to  strike  with  surer  aim  ;  nothing  but  fugi- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  *5 

tive  Cozaks*  hanging  on  their  wings,  who, 
used  to  this  distressing  mode  of  warfare,  will 

*  The  name  Cozaks  is  general,  and  applied  to  all 
those  tribes,  which  follow  the  same  irregular  and  al- 
most optional  method  of  warfare.  The  particular 
bodies  of  the  Cozaks  are  distinguished  from  each 
other,  not  so  much  by  the  different  nations  which 
compose  them,  as  by  ,he  places  they  respectively  in- 
habit. Thus  theDon-Cozaks  take  their  name  from 
the  river  Don  ;  the  Ouralian  Cozaks^  from  the  Oura- 
lian  mountains  ;  the  Cozaks  of  the  Ukraine,  from  the 
name  of  the  country  ;  and  the  Zafioravtan  Cozaks^ 
from  the  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper,  as  the  word  Za- 
fiora-uian,  or  more  properly  Zafiorostzi^  signifies  in 
the  Russian  language,  "  people  living  beyond  the 
Cataracts."  The  two  former  are  chiefly  the  colo- 
nists of  great  Russia,  and  the  two  latter  are  formed 
of  Malo-Russians  ;  these  wear  no  beards.  The  Za- 
poravians  shave  even  their  heads,  and  leave  only  a 
small  piece  of  hair  upon  the  crown,  long  enough  to 
reach  the  nose,  priding  themselves  upon  every  thing 
opposite  to  civilization,  and  to  the  common  feelings 
of  man.  There  was  a  time,  when  no  woman  whatev- 
er was  permitted  to  live  in  their  society  ;  and  though 
they  began  lately  to  have  more  intercourse  with  the 
sex,  still  they  retained  strongly  the  marks  of  their 
former  ferocity  ;  and  might  be  called  with  great 
propriety,  a  gang  of  desperate  outlaws,  of  robbers, 
and  all  sorts  of  public  offenders,  who  were  suffered 
to  exist  merely  on  account  of  the  mischief  they  did 
H 


86  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

harass  them  by  clay  and  night  ;  and  nothing 
behind  or  around  them  but  sterility,  famine, 
and  desolation. 

The  French  soldiers  feel  this  ;  Buonaparte 
knows  it  too,  and  hence  is  his  delay  ;  for  Rus- 

to  the  enemy.  They  are  now  abolished,  or  sunk  into 
the  more  civilized  race  of  Tchernomorskie  Cozakie. 

The  Cozaks  of  the  Ukraine,  and  the  Don-Cozaks, 
are  more  advanced  in  civilization  ;  the  latter  are 
seen  sometimes  with  and  sometimes  without  beards  ; 
but  the  former  exist  now  merely  in  name,  applied 
indiscriminately  to  all  the  inhabitants.  There  are 
also  Cozaks  formed  into  regular  regiments,  but  of 
these  we  need  not  speak.  Excepting  the  Cozaks  of 
the  Ukraine,  and  the  Zafiora-vians,  the  Tartars  and 
Calmuks  are  so  interspersed  with  all  other  Cozaks, 
as  to  form  the  most  conspicuous  and  prominent  fea- 
ture in  them.  The  Calmuks  seem  to  be  the  real 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Scythians,  who  dwelt  on 
the  borders  of  the  Don  (Tanais.)  Their  features  are 
broad  and  flat,  with  a  pair  of  small,  fiery,  and  pierc- 
ing eyes.  They  are  of  small  stature,  very  robust 
and  active,  and  expert  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  ar- 
row, which  they  to  this  moment  manage  with  aston- 
ishing dexterity.  They  are  extremely  skilful  in 
taming  wild  horses,  and  are  hired  expressly  for  that 
purpose  by  the*  horse-contractors  for  the  army,  who 
have  to  choose  these  animals  out  of  the  wild  studs 
bred  chiefly  by  the  land  proprietors  in  Little  Russia. 
A  Calmuk  rides  into  the  midst  of  these  ungoverna- 
ble creatures,  and  after  a  horse  is  singled  out,  which 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAlt.  8j 

sia  has  taken  a  decisive  stand  against  him, 
ever   since  she  refused   to  adopt   his  conti- 

is  to  be  taken,  he  throws  a  loop -round  his  neck  with 
such  expertness,  that,  though  the  distance  is  conside- 
rable, as  the  ferocious  animal  will  not  suffer  any  one 
to  approach  near  him,  he  seldom  misses  his  aim. 
No  sooner  does  the  loop  fall  upon  the  horse's  neck, 
than  the  Calmuk  fastens  with  amazing  rapidity  the 
other  end  of  the  rope  to  the  saddle  he  sits  upon,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  all  possibility  of  the 
horse's  escaping.  The  unruly  savage,  thus  surpris- 
ed, struggles  hard,  but  the  other  horse,  which  the 
Calmuk  rides,  takes  such  a  position  by  the  direction 
of  the  rider,  that  the  strength  of  the  captive  is  ex- 
,hausted,  and  he,  at  length,  suffers  himself  to  be  led 
away,  and  is  soon  tamed.  The  Tartars,  who  are  like 
Calmuks  in  their  persons,  are  so  intermixed  with 
them  as  to  be  seen  every  where  together.  They  eat 
horse  flesh,  without  any  other  preparation  than  the 
warming  it  under  the  saddle  they  ride  upon.  For 
th^s  reason,  they  have  in  general  two  or  three  horses 
with  them  ;  so  that  their  provisions  and  the  means  of 
travelling  proceed  with  them  without  any  incum- 
brance.  Both  these  nations  or  tribes  are  extremely 
numerous  among  the  Don-Cozaks  ;  and  all  together 
form  those  terrible  warriors,  whose  aspect  alone  is 
sufficient  to  dismay  an  enemy  not  accustomed  to  such 
a  sight. 

The  Cozaks  are  a  valuable  appendage  to  a  regular 
army  ;  they  are  its  guides  and  satellites.  It  is  their 
particular  business  to  obtain  intelligence  from  the  en- 
emy,  which  they  do  sometimes  in  the  manner  that  a 


38  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

nental  system,  the  darling  child  of  his 

tion,  and  the  constant  object  of  his  dreams  and 

Calmuk  takes  a  wild  horse.  As  soon  as  a  Cozak 
comes  near  enough  to  the  object  of  his  search,  he 
throws  a  loop  round  his  waist,  fastens  it  to  his  saddle, 
and  gallops  off  with  the  prisoner.  All  the  outposts 
are  forme;!  chiefly  of  the  Cozaks.  They  are  constant- 
ly upon  the  look-out,  and  cut  a  conspicuous  figure 
in  skirmishes.  The  lucre  of  gain,  or  the  prospect  of 
booty,  is  the  main  spring  of  their  actions  ;  and  a  Co- 
zak will  seldom  flinch  from  attacking  two  opponents, 
if  he  sees  the  probability  of  plunder.  Their  chief 
and  most  destructive  weapon  is  a  long  lance,  suspen- 
ded upon  a  sling  from  the  waist.  When  they  are 
upon  the  attack,  they  let  the  lance  down  to  a  level 
with  the  stirrup  horizontally,  and,  after  drawing  it 
back  with  the  right  foot,  to  which  the  butt-end  is 
fastened,  they  hurl  it  forward  by  the  same  foot,  with 
such  force  and  destructive  aim,  that  it  generally 
proves  fatal  to  the  enemy.  They  are,  besides,  armed 
with  a  gun,  a  brace  of  pistols,  and  a  sword,  some- 
thing in  the  shape  of  a  Turkish  sabre.  Though  in 
their  military  appearance  they  preserve  a  certain  de- 
gree of  uniformity,  still  their  dress,  according  to  their 
fancy  or  means,  makes  the  scene,  whenever  they 
march  in  a  body,  chequered  and  truly  grotesque. 
Though  they  are  irregular  troops,  still  they  have  a 
certain  order,  a  certain  principle  of  rude  discipline, 
with  officers  regularly  appointed  and  obeyed.  Their 
horses  are  so  diminutive  and  apparently  weak,  that 
they  seem  more  calculated  to  be  carried  than  to  car- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  89 

visions.     His  character  is  too  well  known  to 
suppose  he  would  not  have  long  ago  marched 

ry  ;  yet  a  Cozak,  whether  through  prejudice  or  real 
conviction  of  their  excellence,  never  will,  never  was 
known  to  part  with  his  horse,  nor  exchange  it  for  one 
ever  so  valuable,  unless  it  is  of  the  same  breed. 
These  horses  are  a  race  altogether  anomalous,  for 
whether  fed  luxuriously,  or  sparingly,  they  maintain 
invariably  the  same  niggardly  appearance,  and,  like 
the  Russian  soldier,  can  exist  almost  upon  nothing, 
which  may  perhaps  account  for  the  Cozaks*  attach- 
ment to  them.  Such  is  the  thirst  of  Cozaks  for  war, 
that  when  the  number  required  is  inconsiderable,  and 
they  must  cast  lots  who  shall  go,  a  serious  quarrel 
is  frequently  the  consequence  of  not  being  includ- 
ed in  the  number.  He  that  returns  home  without 
booty,  or  has  not  been  in  action,  is  viewed  by  the  wo- 
men in  a  despicable  light  ;  so  that  their  manners 
and  mode  of  living  all  tend  to  make  them  warriors. 
They  think  it  charity  to  kill  their  own  comrades, 
when  wounded  past  recovery,  or  likely  to  falljnto  the 
hands  of  a  merciless  enemy.  They  disperse  in  such 
small  parties,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  stop  their 
incursions,  and  for  this  reason  they  are  the  most  dan- 
gerous set  of  men  that  can  enter  a  hostile  country. 
Nor  are  they  less  so  to  a  routed  enemy  ;  for,  though 
they  do  not  fight  in  the  line,  they  are  the  first  in 
pursuit,  and  the  last  in  desisting  from  it.  They  per- 
formed wonders  in  Italy,  under  the  command  of  Su- 
warow  ;  who  knew,  better  than  any  other  Russian 
general,  how  to  employ  them  to  the  best  advantage. 
EL* 


90  lIKSOriiCES  OF  RUSSIA 

his  mjTmidons  against  Russia,  if  he  were  not 
somewhat  deterred  by  the  hazard  of  the  un- 

Their  officers  have  lately  received  a  regular  pay  ; 
but  the  men  are  only  paid  during  actual  service. 

The  following  description  of  the  Cozaks  is  from 
Sir  R.  Wilson's  Campaign  in  Poland. — 

"  The  Cozaks  of  the  Don  and  the  Volga  still  pre- 
serve a  constitutional  independence,  which  is  posses- 
sed by  none  of  the  other  provinces  of  Russia.  Reg- 
ulated by  their  own  laws,  exempt  from  taxes,  and 
governed  under  the  immediate  authority  of  their 
own  Attaman,  or  chief,  chosen  from  amongst  them- 
selves, they  are  relieved  from  all  impositions  of  con- 
quest, but  the  obligation  for  every  male  to  serve 
gratuitously  for  five  years  with  the  Russian  armies, 
and  some  interior  services  connected  with  their  own 
police.  Blessed  with  a  country  of  rich  plains  and 
noble  rivers,  which  nature  covers  with  the  glorious 
canopy  of  a  fine  climate,  and  fills  with  redundant 
food,  the  Cozak  still  maintains  his  warlike  charac- 
ter, and  unites  with  the  most  enthusiastic  admiration 
of  his  country,  and  a  disposition  to  profit  of  its  en- 
joyments, the  ambition  of  martial  service,  and  an 
errant  spirit  of  adventurous  and  foreign  enterprize. 
In  the  land  which  gave  him  birth  he  is  the  peace- 
ful and  civilized  inhabitant,  natural  in  his  affections, 
and  domestic  in  his  habits  ;  but  in  other  countries 
he  is  the  lawless  Scythian,  respecting  no  property  or 
Tights. 

Proud  of  his  national  comparative  freedom,  he 
bears  himself  as  one  conscious  of  superiority  and 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  91 

dertaking.  The  policy  of  Russia,  on  this 
occasion,  seems  replete  with  wisdom.  While 

privilege,  and  yet  he  tempers  the  haughty  sense 
of  these  advantages  with  an  Asiatic  grace  of  manner 
that  renders  the  expression  inoffensive  to  his  asso- 
ciates and  grateful  to  the  stranger. 

In  the  qualities  of  private  character,  the  Cozak  is 
to  no  man  inferior — affectionate  to  his  family  ;  faith- 
ful to  his  friend  ;  hospitable  to  the  stranger,  and 
generous  to  the  distressed  ;  with  graceful  simplicity 
of  manners,  and  a  candour  that  commands  confidence. 
His  military  virtues  are  splendid  in  common  with 
the  Russian  nation  ;  but  hereditary  habits  of  war, 
and  perhaps  a  natural  talent  for  that  species  of  it  in 
which  they  are  engaged,  adds  an  acute  intelligence 
and  capacity  that  is  not  generally  shared.  By  the 
stars,  the  wind,  and  an  union  of  the  most  ingenious 
observations,  he  travels  over  countries  unknown  to 
him,  through  forests  almost  impervious,  and  reach- 
es his  destination  ;  or  tracks  some  precursor,  that  he 
is  directed  to  pursue,  with  the  assurance  and  the  in- 
defatigable ardour  of  the  instinctive  blood-hound. 
Nothing  can  elude  his  activity,  escape  his  penetra- 
tion, or  surprize  his  vigilance.  Irreparable  disgrace 
would  dishonour  the  Cozak,  whose  negligence  offer- 
ed an  advantage  to  the  enemy.  The  crimes  of  the 
passions,  cowardice  itself  would  not  attach  so  fatal  a 
stigma  ;  for,  in  the  words  of  their  Attaman,  «  This 
offence  would  not  only  sacrifice  the  army  to  the 
swords  of  the  enemy,  but  entail  a  reproach  on  all, 
and  distrust  of  all,  that  no  valour  or  service  could 
retrieve."  And  such  is  the  general  impression  of  its 


92  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

she  is  conscious  of  her  own  strength,  she 
leaves  to  him  the  choice  of  war,  and  preserves 
for  herself  the  incalculable  advantage  of  not 

base  character  that  no  instance  of  a  surprise  is  on  re- 
cord. 

Mounted  on  a  very  little,  ill-conditioned,  but  well- 
bred  horse,  which  can  walk  at  the  rate  of  five  miles 
an  hour  with  ease,  or,  in  his  speed,  dispute  the  race 
with  the  swiftest — with  a  short  whip  on  his  wrist  (as 
he  wears  no  spur) — armed  with  the  lance,  a  pistol 
in  his  girdle,  and  a  sword,  he  never  fears  a  competi- 
tor in  single  combat  ;  but  in  the  late  war  he  irresis- 
tibly attacked  every  opposing  squadron  in  the  field. 
Terror  preceded  his  charge,  and  in  vain  discipline 
endeavoured  to  present  an  impediment  to  the  pro- 
truding pikes.  The  Cuirassiers  alone  preserved 
some  confidence,  and  appeared  to  baffle  the  arm  and 
the  skill  of  the  Cozak  ;  but  in  the  battle  of  Pruess 
Eylau,  when  the  Cuirassiers  made  their  desperate 
charge  on  the  Russian  centre,  and  passed  through 
an  interval,  the  Cozaks  instantly  bore  down  on  them, 
speared  them,  unhorsed  them  and,  in  a  few  moments, 
five  hundred  and  thirty  Cozaks  re-appeared  in  the 
field  equipped  with  the  spoil  of  the  slain. 

When  Murat,  after  the  battle  of  Eylau,  advanced 
with  the  French  cavalry  to  menace  the  Russians,  and 
induce  Beningzen  to  evacuate  Konigsberg,  the  Co- 
zaks attacked  his  posts  in  every  direction,  killed  a 
very  considerable  number,  and  made  prisoners,  in 
the  course  of  the  succeeding  16  days,  of  1,600  dra- 
goons and  hussars,  which  loss  obliged  Murat  to  re- 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  95" 

appearing  the  aggressor,  but  of  appealing, 
with  a  resistless  voice,  to  her  people  in  self- 
tire,  and  Buonaparte  to  abandon  Eylau  and  the  open 
country  in  front  of  Guttstadt.  They  afterwards,  in 
the  Russian  retreat,  (being  supported  by  some  squad- 
rons of  regular  cavalry,)  made  such  desperate  at- 
tacks, that  Buonaparte  was  obliged  to  form  squares 
with  his  infantry,  and  was  himself  in  such  danger 
that  the  whole  French  cavalry  was  brought  down  in 
full  gallop  to  cover  him. 

It  was  in  this  retreat  that  their  Attaman  Platow 
evinced  a  trait  of  that  superior  mind  which  attained 
his  station,  and  which,  if  he  had  received  a  liberal 
education,  would  have  rendered  him  one  of  the  first 
men  of  the  age,  as  indisputably  he  is  one  of  the 
most  eminent  warriors.  After  Buonaparte  had 
brought  up  a  second  corps  of  his  army,  supported  by 
the  whole  body,  he  advanced  with  rapidity,  resolved 
to  overwhelm  the  rear  guards  of  Platow  and  Bragra- 
tion,  before  they  passed  the  bridges  of  the  river, 
which  flowed  behind  them,  and  to  which  they  had 
to  descend. 

The  Cozaks  saw  the  impending  danger,  and  be- 
gan to  press  back  in  confusion.  Platow  checked, 
but  found  the  disorder  increasing.  He  immediately 
sprang  from  his  horse,  exclaiming  to  the  Cozaks, 
"  Let  those,  who  are  base  enough,  abandon  their  Atta- 
man." The  corrected  lines  paused.  He  gradually 
moved  ;  with  a  waving  hand  kept  back  those  who 
trespassed  ;  sent  his  orders  with  calmness  ;  reached 
the  town  in  order  ;  halted  at  the  bridge  until  every 
man  had  passed,  destroyed  it,  and  still  on  foot,  pro- 


94  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA. 

defence,  and  in  revenge  of  that  violation  of  sa- 
cred engagements  which  France  in  attacking 
her  must  necessarily  commit.  Whether  Rus- 

eeeded  on  the  other  side  of  the  town,  struggling 
above  ancle  deep  through  the  heavy  sand  ;  nor  could 
the  most  tremendous  cannonade,  and  the  incessant 
fire  of  the  French  battalions,  crowning  the  opposite 
heights,  and  who  commenced  their  vollies  as  they 
formed  successively,  accelerate  his  pace,  or  induce 
him  to  mount  his  horse,  until  the  object  was  attain- 
ed, and  superior  duty  obliged  him,  for  the  direction 
of  other  operations.  His  mien,  his  venerable  and 
soldier-like  appearance,  his  solemn  dignity  of  man- 
ner, combined,  with  the  awful  incidents  of  the  scene, 
to  render  this  one  of  the  most  imposing  and  interest- 
ing sights  that  could  be  witnessed. 

The  following  is  an  instance  of  the  Cozaks'  inge- 
nuity :• — The  French  cavalry  were  afraid  to  remain  at 
night  in  the  out-posts,  and  withdrew,  to  the  long  mor- 
tification of  the  Cozaks,  who  thus  had  no  opportunity 
to  achieve  any  enterprize  against  them.  A  party 
came  one  day  to  the  officer  of  artillery  and  reques- 
ted a  loaded  shell,  which  was  given  them.  They 
went  when  night  fell,  and  having  observed  where 
the  enemy's  posts  by  day  lighted  their  fires,  they 
buried  it  under  the  ashes.  The  unsuspicious  foe 
returned  in  the  morning,  and,  after  their  patroles, 
rekindled  the  usual  flame,  round  which  they  collect- 
ed ;  in  a  short  time  the  fuze  was  enflamed,  and  the 
fatal  explosion  killed  and  desperately  wounded  seven 
men,  whilst  the  exulting  Cozaks  rushed  from  their 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.  St5 

sia  repents  of  her  alliance  or  not,  her  strict  ob- 
servance of  the  treaty,  and  her  steady  adhe- 

ambuscade  to  secure  the  horses  of  those  who  could 
not  escape. 

The  equipment  of  the  Cozak's  horse  is  light ; — a 
snaffle, — an  halter,  of  which  the  rein  is  always 
held  in  the  hand,  that  he  may  be  instantly  attached  on 
dismounting',  or  be  led  with  facility, — the  tree  of  a 
saddle,  on  which  is  bound  a  cushion  stuffed  with  the 
Cozak's  property,  and  on  which  he  rides, — form  the 
whole  of  his  accoutrements  and  baggage. 

His  dress  is  equally  simple  ;  a  blue  jacket,  (with 
a  white  frog  on  the  cuff  or  cape,)  fastened  with  hooks  ; 
a  pair  of  loose  trowsers,  plaited  so  as  to  cover  and 
conceal  the  opening  in  front  ;  a  pair  of  short  boots,  a 
black  cap  made  of  the  unborn  lamb,  from  which  de- 
pends a  red  pandour  sack,  a  plume  on  the  side  of 
the  cap,  or,  what  is  more  common,  except  in  the  At- 
taman's  regiment,  merely  a  cloth  cap  with  a  kind  of 
sack  hanging  behind,  in  which  he  stuffs  his  provi- 
sion or  other  articles — and  a  white  or  black  hair 
Circassian  short  cloak, — is  the  costume  of  the  Co- 
zak  on  service  and  of  his  country. 

But  still  an  Asiatic  taste  for  the  embellishment  of 
warlike  accoutrements  is  blended  with  the  simplicity 
of  his  equipment.  He  disdains  the  ornament  of  ar- 
tificial metals,  and  solid  silver  is  wrought  throughout 
upon  his  arms  and  appointments. 

Amongst  the  common  Cozaks  is  also  frequently 
found  a  chivalresque  spirit,  a  delicate  sense  of  honour 
that  would  grace  the  very  age  of  chivalry,  and  be 


'96  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSIA 

rence  to  her  promises,  while  they  shew  the 
value  and  constancy  of  her  friendship,  and 
cover  with  confusion  those  who  doubted  it  ; 
teach  Europe  to  rely  in  future  on  her  fidelity 
and  perseverance,  and  may  possibly  raise 

worthy  the  records  that  eternize  illustrious  actions 
of  fidelity  and  valour. 

When  a  British  officer- was  observing  the  retreat 
of  Marshal  Ney  from  Guttstadt,  his  dress  and  teles- 
cope attracted  the  attention  of  the  enemy,  who  direct- 
ed some  cannon  at  him  :  the  first  ball  struck  the 
moist  earth  under  his  horse,  and  covered  the  animal 
and  rider  with  the  sods  ;  — a  second  ball  was  fired 
with  sim  lar  accuracy,  when  the  attendant  Cozak 
rushed  up  to  him  with  resentment  in  his  features, 
and  pointing  at  his  helmet,  desired  him  to  change  it 
with  his  cap  ;  and  on  the  officer's  refusal,  he  attempt- 
ed to  snatch  it  from  his  head  and  substitute  his  own, 
but  during  this  contest  a  shower  of  musquet  balls 
rendered  the  horses  wild,  and  they  flew  apart. 
When  the  Cozak  was  afterwards  asked  by  the  Atta- 
man,  with  feigned  anger,  for  his  own  explanation  of 
such  disrespectful  conduct  ; — he  replied,  «.  I  saw 
that  the  enemy  directed  their  fire  at  the  English 
officer  on  account  of  his  casque  and  plume — I  was 
appointed  by  you  to  protect  him — I  knew  you  had 
marched  with  many  Cozaks,  but  only  one  stranger  ; 
it  was  therefore  my  duty  to  avert  mischief  from  him, 
by  attracting  it  to  myself,  and  by  so  doing  preventing 
the  sorrow  you  and  every  Cozak  would  feel  at  the 
loss  of  a  guest  perishing  in  your  service/' 


IN  THE  EVENT  OF  WAR.       «  97 

against  France  powerful  and  determined  ene- 
mies, even  where  they  are  least  expected. 

Let,  therefore,  France  buckle  on  her  ar- 
mour ;  and  in  hostile  array  march  against 
Russia.  Let  clouds,  portending  disaster,  gath- 
er on  ;  and  the  threatening  tempest  again 
spread  wide  its  rapid  wings,  and  pour  its  de- 
luge upon  the  north  :  Russia  undismayed, 
awaits,  nay,  invites  the  blow.  Next  to  Prov- 
idence, she  relies  on  the  tried  heroism  of  her 
people  ;  and  on  the  prayers  of  the  suffering 
millions,  whose  champion  she  now  stands 
forth.  Her  struggles  will  be  against  universal 
tyranny  ;  and  her  success  will  be  the  deliv- 
erance of  all.  Her  safety  will  be  the  protec- 
tion, and  her  independence  the  relief  and  se- 
curity of  the  oppressed.  Her  cause  is  the 
cause  of  freedom  ;  and  every  soil,  trod  by  the 
foot  of  a  freeman,  shall  yield  to  it  a  tribute 
of  sympathy.  Her  cause  is  the  cause  of 
humanity  ;  and  wherever  man  draws  the 
breath  of  life,  blessings  shall  be  its  enviable 
portion. 

It  is  with  Russia  that  the  fallen  nations  can 
even  hope  to  rise.  The  frowning  idol,  under 
whose  iron  foot  numberless  victims  daily  ex- 
pire, may  yet  be  hurled  from  its  ensanguined 


fc  RESOURCES  OF  RUSSTA,  &c. 

throne,  and  awe  the  world  only  by  its  tremen- 
dous ruins  I  The  overgrown  colossus,  from 
whose  fatal  grasp  Europe  in  vain  strives  to 
free  herself,  can  only  on  its  own  element  be 
crushed.  The  thunder  of  Albion  has  only 
struck  at  its  shadow  on  the  ocean  ;  but  the 
huge  substance,  in  which  all  the  ingredients 
of  mischief  are  consolidated,  still  remains  the 
same.  Some  of  the  distant  sparks  have  only 
been  intercepted  ;  while  the  main  furnace, 
wherein  such  horrid  conflagrations  are  engen- 
dered, still  remains  unextinguished.  Even  in 
the  regions  of  the  now  respiting  Lusitania, 
only  some  of  the  monster's  limbs  have  been 
shattered  ;  the  enormous  body  is  still  anima- 
ted with  life  and  vigour,  is  still  fed  by  daily 
torrents  of  human  blood,  and  endowed  with 
the  unnatural  power  of  renovating  and  increas- 
ing its  strength  at  pleasure.  To  assault  its 
extremities  is  only  to  provoke  its  rage  and 
Fury  ;  but  to  encounter  it  at  once,in  all  its  di- 
mensions, heart  to  heart,  is  the  only  chance  of 
destroying  it.  This  may  yet  be  hoped  from 
the  invasion  of  Russia. 

{The  preceding  pages  lucre  printed  in  a  pamphlet,  •with  the  exception  of  the 
extract*  from  Sir  Robert  Wilson's  work,  previous  to  the  declaration  of  war 
tetween  France  and  Russia.  PUBLISHERS.} 


APPENDIX. 


HOW  far  the  statements  and  opinions, 
contained  in  the  preceding  pages,  have  been 
justified  by  subsequent  events,  it  is  now  in 
the  power  of  every  man  to  decide — of  every 
man,  whose  judgment  is  not  warped  by  prej- 
udices, or  who  has  not  sworn,  under  the  illu- 
sion of  Gallic  enchantment,  to  believe  Napo- 
leon infallible,  and  exempt  from  all  the  vicis- 
situdes of  human  nature.  The  immense  ar- 
mies, raised  by  Russia  to  match  a  world  in 
arms,  show  the  extent  of  her  resources,  and 
the  sufficiency  of  her  population  ;  the  noble 
perseverance  of  Alexander  proves  how  unjust- 
ly he  was  distrusted  and  blamed  ;  and  the 
voluntary  sacrifices,  and  indissoluble  union  of 
the  Russian  people  of  all  classes,  while  they 
furnish  a  severe  satire  on  the  officious  moral- 
ist, who  pretended  to  pity  their  fancied  misery 


100        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

and  prescribe  rules  for  their  imaginary  happi- 
ness, cover  with  shame  and  confusion  the  ea- 
ger slanderer,  who,  judging  perhaps  from  his 
own  disposition,  doubted  their  loyalty,  and 
conceived  treachery  to  be  their  inmate.  How 
little  was  Russia  understood  !  and  how  little 
was  it  anticipated,  that  she  should  give  poster- 
ity the  unprecedented  example  of  a  nation  of 
more  than  40,000,000  souls  without  a  single 
traitor !  Such,however,  is  the  fact.  She  alone 
was  proof  against  that  contagion  of  French  in- 
fluence, which  has  penetrated  into  every  other 
part  of  the  civilized  world  ;  and  which,  if  it 
really  was  exerted  in  Russia  to  the  extent 
stated,  failed  where  it  was  most  expected  to 
succeed.  Not  a  solitary  instance  of  treason 
has  occurred,  and  even  the  famous  plot  of 
Speransky,  so  much  spoken  of,  on  inquiry 
proved  groundless,  and  the  supposed  culprit, 
whose  innocence  was  afterwards  clearly  estab- 
lished, was  endowed  with  a  pension  of  20,000 
roubles  a  year.*  But  the  Russian  talent  and 

*  This  ought  to  be  an  instructive  lesson  to  all 
those,  who  in  England  and  here  talk  of  French 
pimps,  varlets,  actresses,  musicians,  and  spies  of  eve- 
ry denomination,  crowding  to  St.  Petersburgh,  to 
corrupt  the  Russian  emperor  and  his  ministers  !!! 
If  it  be  true,  that  creatures  of  this  kind  have  been  so 


SKETCH  OF  TftK  PRESENT  ^CAMPAIGN.         101 

national  character  have  in  no  instance  been 
more  strikingly  illustrated  .than  in  /ifrs  .con- 
duct of  Count  N.  Romantzow,  the  Russian 
chancellor  and  prime  minister. 

This  distinguished  nobleman,  son  of  a  hero 
whose  name  will  ever  shed  a  lustre  on  this 
Russian  history, though  of  acknowledged  probi- 
ty and  honour,  was  suspected,  even  by  some  of 
the  Russians,  of  being  a  French  partizan,  as 
far  at  least  as  he  was  influenced  by  his  own 
political  sentiments  and  predilections.  His 
apparent  cultivation  of  the  French  interest,  his 
seeming  preference  of  those  who  were  sup- 
posed employed  in  misleading  him,  his  affec- 
ted hostility  to  Great- Britain,  and,  above  all, 
his  journey  to  Paris,  which  looked  like  a  slavish 
homage  toBuonaparte,had  exposed  him  to  such 
undisguised  obloquy  and  such  galling  and  dis- 
graceful aspersions,  as  none,  but  patriots  like 
himself,  could  have  had  the  courage  and  mag- 
nanimity to  endure  with  patience.  In  pro- 
portion to  this  public  denunciation  were  pub- 
lic gratitude,  astonishment,  and  joy,  when  k 

employed,  they  must  have   served  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment with  more  fidelity  than  their  own,   and  the 
French  chief  has  derived  but  little  profit  from  their 
labours. 
I* 


102        SKETCH  OF  THE-  P'UESENT  CAMPAIGN'. 

was  found,  from  the  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence bVnifeeri  hitii  and  the' French  minister,that 
his  deportment  was  only  modified  by  circum- 
stances, but  wholly  rested  on  the  firm  principle 
of  pure  patriotism  ;  that,  by  exposing  and 
humbling  himself,  he  was  securing  and  rais- 
ing his  country  ;  that,  while  the  crafty  French- 
men considered  him  their  tool,  they  were 
caught  in  their  own  toils  ;  and  that  the  fruits 
of  his  profound  policy,  were,  finally,  the  con- 
quest  of  Finland,  the  most  precious  gem  in 
the  Russian  crown  ;  a  formidable  army,  pre- 
pared, increased,  and  organized  under  the 
auspices  of  the  treaty  of  Tilsit z,  which  was  so 
much  censured  because  so  little  understood  ; 
and  a  glorious  peace  with  Turkey,  at  a  most 
critical  juncture,  when  Russia  wanted  every 
soldier  at  home — a  peace,  which  annexed  to 
her  empire  the  Moldavian  provinces  as  far  as 
the  Pruth  ;  which  secured  her  triumph  over 
all  the  counteracting  influence  of  the  French  ; 
and  shewed,  that  the  Turkish  divan  had  a  bet- 
ter knowledge  of  the  means  of  Russia,  than  all 
the  cabinets  of  Europe,  and  that  it  acted  with 
better  policy  and  foresight  as  to  the  issue  of 
the  impending  contest. 

Alexander  himself  is  intitled  to  equal  cred- 
it for  having,   by  a  temporary  humiliation, 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         103 

consented  to  an  interview  on  the  Niemen,  the 
object  of  which  interview  was  the  ultimate 
salvation  of  his  country.  He  was  suddenly 
involved  in  a  war,  in  which,  through  the  ne- 
farious conduct  of  the  British  "  talent"  admin- 
istration, he  beheld  himself  abandoned  by 
those  very  men  by  whose  solicitation,  and  for 
whose  interest,  he  had  recourse  to  arms  ;  and 
while  he  alone  had  to  withstand  the  gigantic 
force  of  France,  bringing  in  her  train  all  the 
subjugated  nations  of  Europe,  his  prospect  of 
relief  was  yet  distant,  as  his  armies,  scattered 
over  the  face  of  his  vast  empire,  could  not  be 
collected  in  time  enough  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  enemy.  Thus  circumstanced,  he  ac- 
cepted of  the  peace  of  Tilsitz,  which  added  to 
his  territories  considerable  possessions  ;  and, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  secured  to  him  all  its 
essential  advantages,  inasmuch  as  Buonaparte, 
though  the  eclat  of  the  negociation  rested 
with  him,  lost  thereby  the  favourable  opportu- 
nity of  invading  Russia,  and  allowed  Alexan- 
der all  the  necessary  time  to  strengthen  him- 
self against  such  an  attempt  in  future.  At 
the  very  moment  that  the  submission  of  the 
Russian  emperor  was  a  theme  of  universal 
reprobation,  and  with  many  an  object  of 


104       SKETCH  OF  THE   PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

senseless  and  unceasing  clamour,  he  was  con- 
templating the  approaching  crisis  of  his  em- 
pire, and  was  preparing  for  a  contest,  in  which 
there  would  be  no  compromise,  and  in  which 
Russia  was  to  conquer  and  be  the  first  power 
on  the  European  continent,  or  to  fall,  and  be 
erased  from  the  list  of  nations.  No  sooner 
had  he  finished  his  preparations,  no  sooner  had 
he  surveyed  with  an  eye  of  intelligence  his 
own  resources,  and  the  unanimous  exertions 
of  his  people,  determined  to  support  him  to 
their  utmost,  than  he  took  an  elevated 
ground  from  which  France  could  not  drive 
him,  but  by  force.*  He  sought  no  war,  but 

*  It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this,  that  Alexan- 
der was  the  aggressor  and  violator  of  the  peace  of 
Tilsitz.  Whatever  were  the  motives  that  led  to 
that  peace,  his  observance  of  it  was  so  sacred,  that, 
though  the  enemy's  preparations  were  carried  on  upon 
the  Vistula  with  increasing  vigour,  and  though  pol- 
icy commanded  to  check  them  by  the  seizure  of  all 
the  magazines  and  stores  collecting  for  the  French 
army,  in  direct  contravention  of  subsisting  engage- 
ments, he  forbore  to  execute  that  measure,  and  gave 
up  all  the  advantages  which  caution  demanded,  and 
which  his  power  might  secure,  merely  to  preserve 
his  honour,  and  his  reputation  for  good  faith,  unsulli- 
ed. Very  soon  after  the  peace,  Buonaparte  gave 
such  glaring  proofs  of  his  duplicity  by  continuing 
his  troops  in  Prussia,  contrary  to  the  articles  of  the 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      IfiJ 

was  determined  rather  to  encounter  it,  than  to 
recede  an  inch  ;  and  far  from  fearing  it,  he 
left  the  choice  of  it  to  his  adversaries.  Nay, 
he  sent  forth  a  noble  defiance  in  the  person  of 
the  duke  of  Oldenburgh,  who,  being  deprived 
of  his  dukedom  by  Buonaparte,  was  invited  to 
Russia,  and  received  the  hand  of  Alexander's 
sister,  the  very  princess  who  was  refused  to 
the  French  emperor.  Finding  such  une- 
quivocal tokens  of  the  resentment  of  Russia, 
Napoleon  \vas  willing  to  appease  her  by  in- 
demnifying the  duke  of  Oldenburgh  ;  but 
she  would  not  even  listen  to  his  proposals, 
unless  they  should  be  preceded  by  his  with- 

treaty,  and  by  his  spoliation  of  the  duchy  of  Olden- 
burgh, as  to  justify  Alexander's  resentmen  ,  and  fur- 
nish him  with  every  possible  excuse  for  his  prepara- 
tory measures.  It  was  then  that  Buonaparte  found, 
though  too  late,  that  he  mistook  the  Russian  empe- 
ror, and  relied  rather  too  much  on  the  terror  of  his 
own  name.  He  found,  what  he  did  not  perhaps  ex- 
pect, that  Alexander  was  not  to  be  appeased  by 
hollow  professions,  and  offers  of  indemnity,  or  to  be 
subdued  by  threats  of  invasion.  In  short,  he  was, 
by  his  own  imprudence,  forced  to  undertake  the  exe- 
cution of  his  threats,  at  a  time  when  his  affairs  in 
Spain  dictated  a  different  line  of  conduct.  Hence 
his  rage  was  only  to  be  quelled  by  the  total  annihila- 
tion of  the  Russian  empire. 


106       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

drawing  all  his  troops  from  the  Prussian  terri- 
tories. This  fixed  demand,  an  unequiv- 
ocal proof  of  confidence  and  readiness  to  meet 
the  foe — of  deliberate  resolution,  not  of  des- 
pair and  necessity,  to  confront  the  danger,  that, 
by  a  trifling  compromise,  might  early  have 
been  averted,  was  too  galling  to  Buonaparte's 
pride  ;  and  his  refusing  to  comply,  produced 
the  extraordinary  campaign  which  has  com- 
pletely verified  the  fourth  section  of  the  pre- 
ceding tract,  relating  to  the  military  powess* 

*  Among  the  most  remarkable  features  of  this 
campaign  are,  the  orderly  and  masterly  retreat  of 
the  Russians,  heightened  by  the  contrast  exhibited 
afterwards  in  the  shameful  flight  of  the  French  ;  the 
uniformly  correct  conduct  of  the  Russian  generals 
and  officers,  not  one  of  whom  seems  to  have  com* 
mitted  a  single  mistake  for  which  he  was  censured 
or  superseded  ;  while  in  the  French  army  Davoust, 
Junot,  and  Sebastiani  were  severely  reproved,  and 
Jerome  Buonaparte  was  actually  dismissed,  and  sent 
home  in  disgrace  ;  and  that,  while  honours  came 
thick  upon  Kutuzow,  Wintenstein,  and  other  Russian 
generals,  the  French  officers  experienced  but  few 
if  any  favours,  from  their  own  emperor.  There  are 
other  facts,  not  immediately  connected  with  this 
campaign,  which  make  the  contrast  still  greater,  and 
deserve  to  be  mentioned  here.  In  all  the  various 
encounters,  between  the  Russian  and  French  gene- 
rals, the  former  have  had  the  advantage  ;  and  there 


SKETCH  0£  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      Itf 

of  Russia,  and  of  which  a  sketch  is  attempted 
here,  as  far  as  the  scantiness  of  information 

are  only  two  among  the  latter,  that  have  not  always 
been  worsted.  Massena  was  only  once  out  of  three 
times  successful  ;  and  Buonaparte  himself  only 
twice  out  of  five  :  that  is,  Massena,  with  numbers 
more  than  treble,  defeated  Korsakoff  at  Zurich,  but 
notwithstanding  the  same  numerical  superiority,  he 
was  defeated  afterwards  by  Suwarow  in  Switzer- 
land, and  again  by  Essen,  near  Warsaw  ;  while 
Buonaparte  was  victorious  at  Austerlitz  and  Fried- 
land  (in  the  last  he  had  90,000  men  against  40,000 
Russians)  but  was  unquestionably  foiled  at  Pultusk, 
Eylau,  and  Borodino,  (smaller  battles,  such  as  took 
place  at  Ostrowno,  Smolensk,  and  even  Heilsberg5 
being  only  preludes  to  greater,  are  not  included.) 
With  these  two  exceptions,  every  other  French  gen- 
eral was  successively  defeated,  in  spite  of  the  uniform 
advantage  of  sup  rior  numbers.  The  illustrious 
Moreau,  and  he  need  not  blush  at  the  recollection, 
yielded  only  to  Suwarow  ;  but  others,  for  example 
St.  Cyr,  Oudinot,  Davoust,  Victor,  Murat,  Eugene 
Beauharnois,  Regnier,  Bernadotte,  Juuot,  and  Sebas- 
tiani,  were  in  every  trial  beaten  by  Wintenstein,  Ba- 
gration,  Miloradowitcz,Sacken,  and  Burcley  de  Tolly, 
the  pupils  of  Suwarow.  I  make  no  mention  of 
prince  Kutuzow,  Platow,  and  Beningzen,  because 
these  were  the  fellow  soldiers  of  the  veteran  Rus- 
sian hero. 

Such  palpable  and  constant  difference  in  favour  of 
the  one,  and  against  the  other,  cannot  be  accidental, 
and  must  proceed  from  some  substantial,  and  perma- 


1&8      SKETCH  OF  THR  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

from  official  sources,  and  the  author's  mode- 
rate abilitieSjCoukl  favour  such  an  undertaking. 
The  forces  collected  by  Buonaparte,  and 
brought  against  Russia  according  to  the 
French  12th  bulletin,  amounted  to  680,000 
men,  and,  according  to  the  English  accounts, 

Rent  cause,  not  to  be  found  in  the  mere  physical 
strength  of  the  Russian  soldier,  inasmuch  as  soldiers 
are  an  artificial  body,  and  must  be  supported  chiefly 
by  the  skill  of  the  commanders.  If  justice,  there- 
fore, bid  us  to  acknowledge,  that  this  superiority 
must  rest  with  the  officers  themselves,  it  will  be 
asked,  why  was  it  generally  denied  or  discredited  ? 
The  answer  is,  that  in  the  imposing  splendour  of  the 
French  revolution,  and  Buonaparte's  successes,  in 
which  every  soldier  appeared  a  hero,  and  which 
magnified  the  prowess  and  skill  of  France,  beyond 
ah  natural  and  just  proportion,  the  previous  claims 
of  Russia  to  military  fame  were  entirely  overlooked 
and  forgotten.  Nobody  thought  for  a  moment,  that 
she  had  consummate  generals,  long  before  the 
French  revolution  had  brought  forth  her  infant  brood; 
and  that,  in  France,  the  present  proportion  of  officers^ 
properly  educated,  to  those  who  arose  from  the 
ranks  of  common  soldiers,  (well  versed  in  practice, 
but  deficient  in  theory,  and  able  when  commanded, 
but  less  capable  to  command,)  is  far  greater  than  is, 
in  Russia,  the  proportion  of  officers  without  educa- 
tion, to  those,  who  from  their  Infancy  enter  the  mili- 
tary school,  and  with  subsequent  experience  unite  a 
previous  knowledge  of  tacdcs. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         109 

to  493,000.  The  first  is  undoubtedly  an  ex- 
aggeration, as  the  French  will  not  tell  a  plain 
fact,  even  when  it  is  very  favourable  to  them- 
selves ;  and  the  latter  seems  to  be  much  nearer 
to  truth,  except  that  the  contribution  of  Poland, 
in  the  enumeration  of  the  component  parts  of 
the  army,  is  stated  at  60,000,  a  thing  abso- 
lutely impossible,  when  it  is  considered  that 
the  Russians  had  previously  carried  off  all  the 
disposable  force,  and  that  the  greater  part  of 
Poland  still  remained  in  their  hands,  leaving 
to  the  French  a  reduced  population,  not  in 
condition  to  furnish  5000  effective  men.  The 
term,  Poland,  in  the  English  enumeration,  is 
evidently  meant  to  apply  to  the  Russian  posses- 
sions, as  the  aid  furnished  by  Austria  and  Prus- 
sia was  distinctly  marked,  without  any  allusion 
to  their  respective  shares  in  that  country  ; 
and  Napoleon,  at  least  over  the  Austrian  part, 
could  not,  and  did  not,  exercise  the  right  of 
conquest.  In  truth,  Austrian  and  Prussian 
Poland,  united,  could  not  furnish  half  the  num- 
ber stated  ;  we  shall  therefore  take  Alexan- 
der's statement  in  his  proclamation  after  the 
battle  of  Borodino,  as  the  most  moderate,  and 
entitled  to  credit,  and  which  makes  the  French 


1 10         bKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

force  amount  to  300,000  men  ;*  a  force 
which  has  not  been  matched  since  the  in- 
troduction of  the  modern  system  of  warfare, 
and  one  half  of  which,  in  prowess  and  ex- 
pense,  is  at  least  equal  to  one  million  upon  the 
ancient  scale. 

At  the  head  of  this  vast  and  prodigious 
body,  containing  the  essence  of  sixty  millions, 
Napoleon,  its  animating  soul,  entered  Russia 
in  June  last,  preceded  by  the  terror  of  his 
name,  and  followed  by  famine  and  desolation. 

*  The  emperor  evidently  alludes  to  the  force  that 
had  actually  entered  Russia  proper,  and  consequent- 
ly Macdonald's,  prince  Swartzenburg's  and  Regnier's 
corps,  which   had  not   passed  the  Dwina,  as    well  as 
the  llth  corps  under  the  duke  of  Castiglione  (Auge- 
reau)  which  remained  in   Prussia,  to  be  called    in  as 
occasion  required,  are    not  included  in  the  account ; 
and  when  added  together,  must  make  an  increase  of 
at  least     100,000    men,    thus    bringing    the     whole 
near    the  ^amount  stated  by  the  English,  after  a  due 
allowance    for   the   exaggerated  quota,  said  to  have 
been  furnished  by  Poland.     Therefore,  we  shall  es- 
timate hereafter  the  whole  French  force   at  400,000 
men  ;  the  more  so  as  Napoleon,  knowing  the  milita- 
ry strength  of   Russia,  would  not  dare  to  invade  her, 
unless  his  own  means  were  superior,  or  at  least  equal : 
for,  it   is  a    solemn  fact ,  that  he  never  has  yet  dared 
to   meet   an    enemy  on   equal  terms,  and  uniformly 
misted  to  his  superior  numbers. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          Hi 

Flushed  with  past  triumphs,  proud  of  his 
present  might,  and  elated  with  the  idea  that 
his  greatest  efforts  must  be  resistless,  he  fan- 
cied himself  a  god,  and  pronounced  his  fiat  in 
the  following  remarkable  sentence  :  "  the  des- 
tinies of  Russia  must  be  accomplished."  The 
modest  Alexander,  apparently  yielding  to  the 
shock,  but  deriving  his  firmness  from  better 
sources — from  Providence,  the  love  of  his 
people,  and  the  justness  of  his  cause,  replied, 
that  "  he  would  not  sheathe  his  sword  as  long 
as  a  single  enemy  remained  on  his  territories'* 
— and  the  contest  became  mortal. 

It  seemed  for  a  while,  as  if  marching  to  ei- 
ther of  the  Russian  capitals  depended  only  on 
the  will  and  choice  of  Buonaparte.  Though 
he  made  demonstrations  of  moving  towards 
St.  Petersburgh,  and  publicly  announced  such 
to  be  his  intentions,  yet  there  were  some 
who  suspected  he  would  prefer  the  road  to 
Moskow  ;*  and  that  his  taking  at  first  the 

*  The  author  was  always  of  this  opinion  ;  and  his 
reasons  were,  that  Moskow,  besides  being  nearer^ 
presented  a  greater  facility  of  supplies  from  the 
surrounding  fertile  country  ;  and,  with  a  view  to  the 
final  conquest  of  Russia,  to  be  effected  only  by  the 
destruction  of  her  moral  as  well  as  physical  force, 
was  far  more  important  than  St.  Petersburgh,  being 


112         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

northernmost  course  was  probably  a  mere 
military  manoeuvre  to  deceive.  This  suspi- 
cion was  fully  verified  ;  for  no  sooner  did  he 
perceive  an  opening  between  Bagration's 
corps  and  the  main  Russian  army,  than  he 
made  a  dashing  movement  to  the  right  be- 
tween them,  and  was  so  sure  of  intercepting 
the  Russian  general,  as  to  announce  the  fact 
before  it  was  accomplished.  Bagration,  how- 
ever, eluded  his  pursuit,  and  disappointed  all 
his  calculations.  After  an  extraordinary 
march  of  more  than  20  miles  per  day,  for  20 
days  successively,  in  which  he  often  turned 
like  a  lion  on  his  pursuers,  he  made  his  retreat 
good,  without  any  loss  whatever,  and  joined 
the  main  body  at  Smolensk,  after  a  series 
of  triumphs,  which  excited  the  world's  admi- 
ration, and  for  which  marshal  Davoust,  (duke 
of  Eckmuhl)  who  unsuccessfully  pursued 

the  very  heart  of  the  Russian  empire.  For  the  rea- 
sons above  mentioned,  it  seems  improbable,  that 
Buonaparte,  as  some  supposed,  was  diverted  from 
his  course  by  Bagration,  who  manoeuvred  for  that 
purpose.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  more  likely,  that  the 
French  emperor,  with  his  usual  promptness,  wished 
to  profit  by  the  state  of  uncertainty,  into  which,  by 
concealing  his  movements,  he  thought  he  had  thrown 
the  Russian  general. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.  113 

him,  was  publicly  censured  by  his  master,  and 
accused  of  want  of  activity.  Buonaparte, 
however,  seems  to  have  so  far  attained  his  ob- 
ject, as  to  derange  the  Russians  in  their  plan 
of  operation  ;  and  to  compel  them,  perhaps 
sooner  than  they  otherwise  would  have  done, 
successively  to  abandon  Drissa  and  Polotzk, 
and  to  fall  back  from  Witepsk,  where  they 
intended  to  make  a  stand,  to  Smolensk,  in 
order  to  get  the  support  of  Bagration,  who 
could  not  join  them  in  the  former  place,  as 
was  concerted.  This  accelerated  movement 
of  the  whole  Russian  army  was  preceded 
by  the  affair  of  Ostrowno,  and  many  sangui- 
nary skirmishes,  in  which  Sebastiani  was 
surprised,  Junot  made  "  a  false  movement,'7 
and  Jerome  lost  his  cavalry  so  as  to  yield  to 
the  retreating  Russians  the  palm  of  victory, 
and  provoke  Napoleon's  anger  and  displeas- 
ure. Though  the  Russians  had  no  intrench- 
ments  near  Smolensk,  and  therefore  were 
more  exposed  than  at  Witepsk,  yet  they 
awaited  the  enemy  with  confidence.  The 
attack  \vas  general  upon  all  points  ;  but  the 
French  did  not  get  possession  of  the  towiv 
until  the  Russian  generals,  after  a  council  o£ 

\var,  agreed  not  to  defend  it     It  was  accord- 
K* 


114         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

ingly  entered  by  sufferance  ;    and   the  Rus- 
sians retreated    farther.     It   appears   from  a 
passage  in  Kutuzow's  despatch,  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Borodino,  implying  the  abandonment  of 
Moskmv  to  be  merely  the  rtsult  of  the  aban- 
donment of  Smolensk,  that,  had  he  been  then 
in  command,   he  would  have   defended  the 
town  to  his  utmost  power  ;  but,  be  this  as  it 
may,  the  Russian  generals  abandoned  it  mere- 
ly in  pursuance  of  a  previous  system  of  re- 
treating and  destroying  all  supplies,  a  system 
which  was  wisely  adopted,  and  successfully 
executed.     At   this  time,   the  French  army 
was  extended  from  the  Dnieper  to  the  Dwina, 
and,  on  both  sides  of  this  last  river,  as  far  as 
Daunberg,  and  thence  along  its  left  bank  as 
far  as  the  extremity  of  Livonia  and  Courland, 
where  Riga  was  threatened,  and  Mittau  be- 
sieged,by  Macdonald.     Witepsk  and  Polotzk 
were  in  the  enemy's  possession  ;    but  Win- 
tenstein,    who   had  fought  several  successful 
battles  withOudinot  on  the  30th  and  31st  of 
July,  and  between  16th  and  18th  of  August, 
about  the  time  that  Buonaparte  was  engaged 
at  Smolensk,  maintained  his  position  on  the 
lower  Dwina,  against  the  utmost  efforts  of  the 
enemy,so  obstinately,  as  to  leave  him  but  small 
advantages  from  the  occupation  of  the  towns 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PUESJENT  CAMPAIGN.          115 

and  other  places  higher  up  the  river.  This 
was  a  serious  check ;  but  Buonaparte  disre- 
garded it,  and  pushed  forward,  trusting  all  to 
fortune,  and  calculating,  in  his  usual  manner, 
that  one  desperate  blow  would  repair  all  the 
rest.  The  action  of  Volontina,  which  he  cal- 
led a  skirmish  of  the  first  order,  in  contradis- 
tinction of  the  battle  of  Smolensk,  the  first 
that  deserved  to  be  so  named,  closed  his  ca- 
reer, which  by  its  uninterrupted  rapidity,  di- 
verted the  public  attention  from  details,  cov- 
ered smaller  disasters,  and,  in  the  general  pros- 
pect of  success,  obscuring  all  minor  objects, 
presented  Russia  as  already  conquered  ;  the 
more  so,  as  a  distance  of  nearly  150  miles, 
from  Smolensk  to  Mojaisk,  was  traversed  by 
the  French  in  about  14  days,  without  meeting 
the  least  resistance. 

It  was  however  at  this  moment  of  inactivi- 
ty, apparently  auspicious  to  Buonaparte,  and 
ominous  to  themselves,  that  the  Russians 
were  preparing  to  give  a  mortal  blow  to  all  his 
hopes  and  projects.  For  it  was  at  this  inter- 
val, that  Barcley  de  Tolly,  minister  at  war, 
an  Officer  of  acknowledged  talents,  who  had 
so  much  distinguished  himself  at  Pultusk, 
Eylau,  and  Finland, — by  whose  wisdom  and 


116         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

exertion  the  staff  and  the  commissariat*  were 
brought  to  the  highest  state  of  improvement, 
— and  to  whose  genius  were  ascribed  the  orig- 
inal conception  and  mature  digestion  of  the 
daring  and  extensive  Russian  system  of  self- 
defence, — resigned  the  chief  command,  which 
he  held  for  a  time,  to  Kutuzow,  an  illustrious 
veteran  of  75,  fellow-soldier  and  admirer  of 
Suwarow,  beloved  by  the  Russian  army,  and 
commanding  the  confidence  of  all  the  classes, 
particularly  of  the  nobility,  of  whom  he  was 
one,  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  Moskow,  where 
he  was  impatiently  expected  from  Moldavia, 
after  a  successful  termination,  by  peace,  of 
his  campaign  in  that  country.  The  Russians, 
united  and  inspired  with  the  presence  of  their 
beloved  leader,  were  now  determined  to  con- 
quer or  to  die  ;  but  he  evidently  aimed  only 
to  cripple  the  enemy,  whose  forces,  being  su- 
perior, he  could  not  hope  to  disperse  with 
one  effort.  Moskow,  though  its  destruction>on 

*  In  this  last  department  some  defects  and  abus- 
es existed,  which  Sir  Robert  Wilson  has  justly 
censured,  but  which,  by  the  good  administration 
of  the  minister,  have  been  completely  removed  ;  so 
as  to  secure  to  the  Russian  army  advantages  in  eve- 
ry respect  equal  to  those  of  the  enemy. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         11? 

a  certain  contingency,  had  been  predetermin- 
ed, was  not  to  be  given  up  without  a  struggle  ; 
and  honour  did  not  allow  the  Russians  to  aban- 
don their  ancient  capital,  without  making  the 
enemy  pay  dear  for  it,  and  without  showing 
him,  they  could,  if  they  picased,  successfully 
dispute  with  him  the  field  of  battle.  For  these 
reasons,  Kutuzow  awaited  the  French  at 
Mojaisk,  (or  rather  at  Borodino,  a  small  vil- 
lage in  front)  and  for  these  reasons  alone  ;  for, 
otherwise,  he  would  have  still  delayed  the 
dreadful  encounter,  as  the  position  was  not 
very  favourable,  though  the  only  one  that 
could  be  obtained  between  Smolensk  and 
Moskow.  Two  days  previous  to  the  battle, 
the  prince,  in  his  despatch  to  the  emperor,  de- 
scribed this  position  as  a  strong  one,  except 
the  ground,  on  his  left,  which  was  disadvanta- 
geous, and  could  only  be  maintained  by  his 
best  troops.  Accordingly,  the  gallant,  ever- 
to-be-lamented  Bagration  was  posted  there 
with  his  brave  companions,  the  flower  of  the 
Russian  army.  This  self-devoted  band,  that 
never  yet  flinched  from  superior  numbers, 
and  sought  nothing  but  victory  or  death,  sus- 
tained the  shock  of  the  whole  French  army  ; 
as  Buonaparte,  aware  of  the  weakness  of  their 
position,  directed  his  main  force  against  them, 


118       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

We  may  judge  with  what  heroism  they  with- 
stood for  a  whole  day  the  repeated  and  concen- 
trated attempts  of  the  desperate  foe,  since,  out 
of  the  whole  corps,  amounting  to  30,000  men, 
only  8,000  are  said  to  have  escaped  unhurt  ; 
but  they  justified  the  high  expectations  of  their 
country,  and  of  their  beloved  chief,  Suwarow's 
favourite  pupil,  who   was    himself  mortally 
wounded,  but  had  lived  to  see  victory  perch 
upon  his  standard,  and  expired  afterwards,  re- 
joicing that   he  proved  himself  worthy  of  his 
great    master,  and  that  his   death  would  add 
fresh  lustre  to  the  glory  of  the  Russian  nation. 
The  battle  commenced  on  the  4th  of  Sep- 
tember, and  lasted  with  various  success  till  the 
7th,   when  it  assumed   its  final  and  horrible 
aspect,  turning  the  actions  of  the  three  preced- 
ing days  into  mere  skirmishes,  or  sportive  tri- 
als of  strength.     Since  the   introduction   of 
modern  tactics,  there  has  never  been  a  battle 
like  this,  as  to  the  prodigious  extent  of  forces 
engaged  on  both  sides,  the  skill  of  the  respec- 
tive commanders  and  officers,  the  bravery  and 
discipline  of  the  troops,  and  the  horrid  slaugh- 
ter of  men,  falling  like  a  ripened  harvest  be- 
neath the  sweeping  hurricane.     Each  moment 
a  thousand  mouths,  as  the  18th  bulletin  says, 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.       119 

scattered  death  on  all  sides,  and  with  torrents 
of  human  blood  deluged  the  earth.     In  short, 
the  horrors  of  this  sanguinary  day,  surpassed 
the  horrors  of  the  8th  of  February   1806,  as 
much  as  this  last  (the  battle  of  Eylau)  surpas- 
sed, in  destruction,  all  the  intermediate  and  the 
preceding  battles  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the 
civilized  world.     There  is  only  this  resem- 
blance  in  them,   that  the  Russians  in  both 
fought  against  superior  numbers,  and  in  both 
remained  masters  of  the  field,  though  the  ar- 
mies, on  each  side,  were  so  disabled  as  to  un- 
dertake nothing  of  consequence   for  a  long 
time  after.     The  essential  advantages,  howev- 
er, of  the  battle  of  Borodino,  were  evidently  on 
the  side  of  the  Russians  ;  and  a  few  facts  will 
convince  every  impartial  reader  of  the  truth  of 
this  assertion. 

The  Russian  accounts,  which  by  their 
modest  and  temperate  tone,  when  contrasted 
with  the  inflated  strain  of  the  French  bulletins, 
created  at  first  despondence,  but  now  are  enti- 
tled to  additional  confidence ;  expressly  an- 
nounced, that  Buonaparte  was  driven  back 
about  3  o'clock  at  noon,  and  that  the  battle 
was  won  by  the  Russians,  who,  according  to 
Subsequent  reports,  remained  for  two  days  on 


120        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

the  field,  removing  the  wounded,  and  burying 
the  dead,  and  only  quitted  it  after  a  deliberate 
consultation ;  in  other  words,  in  compliance 
with  their  original  system.  The  French  18th 
bulletin^  in  describing  this  battle,  evidently 
accords  with  the  Russian  accounts,  if  not  in 
terms,  at  least  in  matter  implied.  It  ack- 
nowledges the  action  was  over,  early  in  the  af- 
ternoon, suppressing  merely,  that,  though  it 
was  over  with  the  French,  it  was  not  not  so 
with  the  Russians,  whose  fire  had  not  ceased 
till  night.  But  the  date  of  the  bulletin  is  con- 
clusive, being  on  the  third  day  after  the  bat- 
tle ;  that  is,  as  soon  as  the  Russians,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  two  days  claimed  by  them,  had 
retired,and  gave  theFrench  an  opportunity  of  da- 
ting their  bulletin  on  the  field  of  battle.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  French,  as  well  as  other  gene- 
rals, if  victorious,  always  date  their  despatches 
immediately  after  a  battle  ;  and  accordingly 
the  Russian  general  issued  his  own  the  next 
morning,  on  the  8th  of  September,  while 
Buonaparte  deferred  his  till  the  10th,  a  cir- 
cumstance which  no  sophistry  can  reconcile 
with  his  pretensions  to  victory.  So  desirous 
was  he  to  repel  the  suspicion  of  having  failed, 
that  not  being  able  to  state  the  subsequent 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         121 

positions  of  the  Russian  army,  as  is  generally 
expected  from  a  victor,  and  warranted  by 
Buonaparte's  former  practice,  he  employed  a 
Polish  renegado  in  reconnoitring  \\\e  fugitives; 
and  for  the  first  time  was  obliged  to  substitute 
the  supposed  information,  given  by  Russian 
sergeants  and  recruits,  for  that  which,  if  he 
had  conquered,  he  had  completely  in  his 
povver  to  furnish  in  a  manner  much  more 
entitled  to  credit.  Indeed,  sometime  or  oth- 
er it  will  appear  in  history,  that  the  mere 
desire  of  concealing  his  defeat,  induced  him, 
contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  best  generals,  to 
advance  at  all  hazards ;  and  approach  that 
gulph  of  destruction,  which  he  otherwise 
would  probably  have  avoided.  * 

Thus  far  the  honour  of  the  day  remained 
with  the  Russians  ;  and  their  victory  could  not 
be  denied  by  any  of  those,  with  whom  the 
mere  keeping  of  the  field  is  the  best  criterion 
of  success  ;  but  there  are  many,  who,  with 
more  propriety,  judge  of  the  success  by  the 
consequences,  and  who  will  naturally  ask, 
why  did  Kutuzow  retire,  if  he  were  success- 
ful, and  give  up  Moskow  to  destruction  ? 
The  answer  is,  that  Napoleon's  advancing  was 
a  proof,  not  of  his  victory,  but  of  rashness^ 


122        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

the  fatal  effects  of  which  he  soon  experienced  ; 
and  that  Kutuzow's  retreat  was  the  result  of 
wisdom,  which  suspended,  for  a  moment,  his 
triumph,  but  soon  more  firmly  established  it, 
and  in  more  striking  colours  displayed  it  to 
the  world.  As  to  the  destruction  of  Mos- 
kow,  there  are  facts  enough  to  justify  us  in 
making  the  Russian  general  speak  for  him- 
celf,  and  thus  he  must  have  reasoned  : — 

"  I  know,  that  the  enemy  cannot  easily  re.- 
eover  from  the  severe  blow  I  have  inflicted  on 
him  ;  but  I  am  also  sensible,  that,  in  the  strug- 
gle, I  have  myself  been  much  weakened.  I 
have  done  enough  for  the  honour  of  my  coun- 
try, and  for  my  own  reputation  ;  and  it  is 
time  to  think  of  means,  sure,  yet  the  least  ex- 
pensive, to  finish  the  work,  which  cost  so 
much  in  the  beginning,  but  whose  progress 
is  now  rendered  less  difficult.  If  I  resolve  on 
another  battle,  I  must  sacrifice  a  great  many 
brave  men,  and  my  utmost  success  can  only 
be,  to  drive  the  enemy  back  upon  his  rein- 
forcements, which  may  sustain  him,  and  ena- 
ble him  to  renew  his  efforts  ;  but  if  I  retard 
the  hour  of  decision,  until  his  festering  wounds 
spread  a  mortal  languor  over  his  whole  body, 
I  shall  ensure  success,  and  save  my  soldiers, 
whose  lives  are  of  more  importance  to  the 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      Us, 

country,  than  the  destruction  of  the  capital — 
the  mere  destruction  of  a  certain  kind  of  prop- 
erty— all  measures  having  already  been  taken 
to  remove  the  inhabitants,  with  their  personal 
effects.  It  is  true,  that  the  preserving  of  the 
city  might  not  materially  impede  the  final  is- 
sue, on  which  I  calculate  with  confidence  ; 
but,  as  it  is  intended  to  starve  the  enemy  in 
his  new  quarters,  by  destroying  these,  I  wish 
only  to  preserve  the  lives  of  the  citizens,  who 
otherwise  may  probably  remain  there,  and 
share  the  fate  of  their  invaders.  Besides,  the 
nobility,  the  merchants,  and  other  classes,being 
willing  to  make  this  sacrifice,  I  shall  choose 
the  least  of  evils,  by  allowing  the  enemy  to 
enter  Moskow,  whither,  I  doubt  not,  his 
rashness  will  lead  him,  but  where  he  will 
give  me  an  opportunity  of  encompassing, 
more  effectually,  his  ruin." 

The  council  of  war  sanctioned  this  res- 
olution, and  the  Russian  general,  like  a  skilful 
hunter,  who  had  mortally  wounded  a  fierce 
animal,  stepped  aside  to  wait  merely  till  his 
ferocious  prey  should  be  ensnared  by  its  own 
rage,  and  exhausted  by  its  fruitless  exertions, 
so  as  to  be  destroyed,  at  the  end,  with  more  fa- 
cility and  less  sacrifice.  Every  thing  was  ac- 
cordingly foreseen  ;  every  necessary  measure 


124        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

adopted ;  all  calculations  made  with  wonderful 
accuracy  ;  and  all  expectations  were  crowned 
with  perfect  success. 

The  flames,  which  illuminated  Buonaparte's 
entrance  into  Moskow,on  the  14th  of  Sept.  en- 
lightened him,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  reality 
of  his  perilous  situation,  and  on  the  Russian  na- 
tional character;  which  he  had  so  far  misconceiv- 
ed, as  to  flatter  himself,  that,  from  its  supposed 
instability,  from  the  fancied  disaffection  of  the 
nobles,  and  the  presumed  weakness  in  the  gov- 
ernment, Russia,  overcome  by  the  spirit  of  in- 
trigue, and  ensnared  in  his  artful  negociations, 
would  not  hesitate  to  commit  at  length  the 
monstrous  crime  of  suicide.  It  was  in  the 
smoking  ruin  of  the  ancient  city  of  the  czars, 
that  he  beheld  a  funeral  pyre,  on  which  were 
consumed  all  his  hopes  of  dividing  the  Rus- 
sian people,  and  either  of  alluring  the  peasantry 
with  the  glittering  toys  of  French  liberty,  or  of 
intimidating  their  emperor  with  the  glare  of  the 
Parisian  sword.  It  was  there  that  all  his  im- 
aginary projects  of  fresh  triumphs,  and  of  new 
conquests,  in  an  instant  vanished  ;  and  the 
dark  September-night,  brooding  over  the  vast 
conflagration,  as  if  to  conceal  it  from  the  eye 
of  vengeful  heaven,  was  but  a  faint  image  of 


SKETCH  OF  TIH3  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         125 

the  tyrant's  frowns,  and  that  outward  gloom, 
beneath  which  raged  the  various  contending 
passions  of  his  soul.  With  fury  he  saw  him- 
self defeated  in  the  field  and  the  cabinet  ;  and 
with  terror  he  discovered  himself  on  the  verge 
of  that  precipice,  into  which  he  vainly  and  dar- 
ingly laboured  to  plunge  a  loyal  nation,  which 
was  at  peace  with  him,  and  which,  though 
brave  and  powerful,  was  moderate  in  its  pre- 
tensions. His  inconceivable  imprudence, per- 
haps the  result  of  too  much  confidence,  in  ex- 
tending his  line  from  Smolensk  to  Moskow, 
before  he  had  driven  the  Russians  from  the 
Dwina  and  Riga,  and  over  a  tract  of  land,  very 
little  wider  than  the  road  on  which  he  passed, 
to  the  unusual  distance  of  200  miles,  without 
any  intermediate  fortresses  to  secure  the 
communication  by  strong  links,  soon  placed 
him  in  the  power  of  the  Russian  generals,  who 
from  different  points  acted  in  perfect  concert 
against  him.  Kutuzow,  by  his  admirable  po- 
sition on  the  right  wing  of  the  French  army, 
menaced  its  flank  with  up  wards  of  100,000  men; 
and  Winzingerode,  communicating  with  him 
through  Mojaisk,  directly  across  the  French 
line,  from  the  opposite  side  on  the  enemy's 
left,  was  very  active  at  the  head  of  30,000 
L* 


126       SKETCH  OF  THE  PHESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

men  :  while  Wintenstein,  with  60,000  men, 
annoyed  the    rear  ;    and   Tchitchagoff,    with 
80,000,  instead  of  marching  from  Moldavia  to 
Moskow,as  was  expected,was  pushing  towards 
Minsk,  to  drive  away  the  united  corps  of  Reg- 
nierand  Swartzenburg,  and  to  intercept  the 
whole  plan  of  French  operations.  Buonaparte's 
main  army,  at  Moskow,  was  thus  inclosed  on  all 
sides;  his  regular  supplies  were  at  once  cut  off ; 
and  the  u  tug  of  war"  was  commencing  at  the 
very    moment,    which,  he    fondly  expected, 
would  terminate  it.*     If  he  marched  towards 
Toula  and  Kaluga,  he  had  Kutuzow's  whole 
army  in  his  front,   and   exposed  his   rear   to 
Winzingerode,  acting  on  the   Twer  road,  and 
to  Wintenstein,  who,  by  maintaining  his  posi- 
tion on  the  Dwina,  kept  in  check  St.  Cyr  and 
Victor,   on    his    right,    and  threatened    the 
whole  French  line,  on  his  left  ;  but  if  Buona- 
parte marched  to  St.   Petersburgh,  he  again 
exposed  his  rear  to  Kutuzow,  without  being 
able  to  change  his  line  of  operation,  confined  to 
Smolensk  by  the  gallant  conduct  of  Winten- 

*  Kutuzow,  in  his  interview  with  Lauriston,  who 
was  sent  to  request  an  armistice,  some  time  after 
the  French  had  been  at  Moskow,  expressly  declared, 
that  the  campaign  was  just  begun  with  the  Russian*. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN,       127 

stein,  who,  in  protecting  the  Dwina,  made  any 
movement  that  way  impracticable.     In  this 
distressing  dilemma,  a  new  enemy,  Famine, 
appeared   in    its    most   frightful  aspect ;  and 
added  to  the  dangers,  and  the  complicated  diffi- 
culties of   the  French  at  Moskow.     True,  the 
surrounding   country   was  fertile  ;    but  small 
foraging  parties   were  destroyed,  as  soon  as 
they  appeared,  and  larger  detachments  were 
inexpedient,  as  they  would  have  diminished 
the  main  army  to  a  degree  inconsistent  with, 
its  safety,  in  presence  of  the  imposing  force 
of  Kutuzow.     Buonaparte  had  no  alternative 
but  that  of  speedy  and  disgraceful  flight,  or  of 
seeking  a  general  engagement.     The  first  his 
pride  was  not  yet  humbled  enough  to  permit 
for  a  moment  ;    and   the  last,   if  successful, 
would  have  retrieved  his  affairs  in  an  instant, 
and  relieved  all  his  distresses.     What  could 
then  induce  a  man,  till  now  so  eager  for  bat- 
tle, to  avoid  it  at  the  moment  when  imperious 
necessity,  no  less  than  the  salvation  of  his  ar- 
my, demanded   it  ;    and   when   inactivity,  of 
all  the  evils,  appeared  the  greatest  ?     What 
could  check  his  attempts  to  advance  at  least 
about  100  miles  to  the  south,  where  Kaluga 
would  give  him  its  granary,  and  Toula  the  ar- 


128      SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

moury  of  the  Russian  empire  ;  or  to  the 
north  of  Moskow,  where  Twer,  about  the 
same  distance,  would  deposit  at  his  feet  the 
immense  supplies  carried  from  the  southern 
to  the  northern  regions  of  the  empire,  and  re- 
lieve his  soldiers  from  the  miserable  fate  of 
starving,  while  beholding,  like  Tantalus,  the 
waters  of  the  Volga,  charged  with  plenty,  flow 
within  their  reach  ?  It  would  be  impossible 
to  answer  these  questions,  if  we  had  not  shewn 
before,  that  he  was  completely  disabled  in  the 
terrible  battle  of  Borodino  ;  for,  though  by 
artfully  glossing  over  his  defeat,  he  succeeded 
in  imposing,  for  a  time,  upon  the  world,  Tie 
could  not  impose  upon  himself,  or  conceal 
from  his  own  knowledge,  that  he  had  paid  so 
dear  a  prize,  to  save  appearances,  as  to  make 
himself  a  bankrupt  and  a  ruined  man.  The 
Russian  general,who  could  notbedeceived,was 
so  conscious  of  his  own  advantages,  that,  at  the 
moment  the  world  doubted  his  ability  to  con- 
tend with  Buonaparte's  troops,  he  was  already 
planning  how  to  intercept  them,  and  ordered 
the  army  from  Moldavia, — that  very  army 
with  whose  assistance,  it  was  supposed,  he 
could  not  dispense, — to  proceed  with  all  pos- 
sible speed  to  the  north  of  Poland. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          129 

It  cannot  be  said,  that  Buonaparte  did  not 
seek  battle  on  the  supposition,  that  Kutuzow 
would  not  give  him  the  opportunity  ;  because 
the  latter  was  at  a  short  distance,  professing 
his  readiness  to  meet  the  enemy  ;   and  at  all 
events,  the  attempt  was  worth  much,  as  the 
mere  retreat  of  the  Russian  general,  further 
into  the  interior,  might  have  procured  to  the 
French  many  of  the  wished-for  advantages. 
It  would  be  equally  erroneous  to  suppose,  that 
Napoleon's  long  stay  at  Moskow,  proceeded 
from  confidence  in  his  own  strength  ;  because 
this  tardiness  naturally  explains  itself  by  his 
extreme  reluctance   to   confirm,  by    such   a 
step,    the    complete    failure    of    his    object. 
Moreover,  he  still  entertained  some  hopes  of 
reinforcement,  the  appearance  of  which,  be- 
tween Smolensk  and  Moskow,  induced  the 
Russians,  already  impatient  for  combat,  to  end 
his  indecision,  by  the  brilliant  attack  of  Octo- 
ber  18th,  on  Murat's  corps,  which  was  com- 
pletely defeated,  by  the  renowned  Beningsen. 

The  immediate  consequence  of  this  victory 
was  the  evacuation  of  Moskow,  and  the  reoc- 
cupation  of  it,  on  the  22d,  by  the  Russians. 
Buonaparte,  after  the  lame  apology,  that  he 
was  going  to  winter  quarters,  though  he  held 


130       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

out  winter  quarters  at  Moskow  ^  as  a  chief  in- 
ducement to  his  soldiers,  before  the  battle  of 
Borodino,  quitted  the  city,  whose  ruin  he  had 
indirectly  achieved,*  and  the  destruction  of 

*  The  attempt  to  clear  Buonaparte  from  having 
caused  the  conflagration  of  Moskow,  because  he  did 
not  apply  the  match  himself,  is  unworthy  of  honest 
and  reflecting  men.  As  well  it  may  be  maintained, 
that  he  is  guiltless  of  shedding  human  blood  in  so 
many  battles,  because  he  only,  in  pure  innocence^ 
brought  a  few  thousand  men  together,  in  such  a 
way,  that  they  could  not  help  themselves,  and  were 
obliged  to  butcher  each  other  !  !  The  wanton  bar- 
barity of  blowing  up  the  Kremlin,  and  the  unprofitable 
cruelty  in  attempting  to  demolish,  in  the  same  way, 
the  cathedral  of  Smolensko,  plainly  shew,  that  the 
timely  sacrifices  of  the  Russians,  in  their  own  de- 
fence, had  only  robbed  his  fury  of  the  objects  on 
which  it  would  vent  itself.  The  cant,  about  his  sav- 
ing Vienna,  Berlin,  and  other  capitals,  is  truly  hypo- 
critical ;  inasmuch  as  he  never  was  driven,  an  enrag- 
ed fugitive,  from  those  cities.  The  Russians,  by  do- 
ing themselves,  what  they  knew  him  capable  of  do- 
ing, had  the  advantage  of  exhibiting  a  pledge  of 
persevering  resistance,  which  appalled  him  ;  and  of 
raising  a  monument  of  patriotism,  whose  splendour 
shall  increase  with  each  succeeding  age.  Mr. 
Whitbread  labours  to  depreciate  the  loyalty  and 
voluntary  offerings  of  the  Russian  people,  by  saying, 
that  Moskow  was  destroyed  by  military  command ; 
and  that  the  Russians  exerted  themselves  altogether 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         13J 

whose  remaining  part  he  had  savagely  order- 
ed.  His  course  was  directed  back  towards 
Mojaisk,  the  place  ennobled  by  his  memorable 

from  their  sense  of  subordination.  This  is  say- 
ing, that  the  execution,  (>y  the  military,  of  what 
was  resolved  by  the  citizens,  is  tyrainy  and  op- 
pression ;  and  the  love  of  country  ceases  to  be  such, 
the  moment  it  becomes  well  regulated.  Certainly,  it 
does  not  resemble  that  love,  which  Mr.  Whitbread 
is  constantly  spouting  in  Parliament ;  and  which,  like 
froth,  on  the  surface  of  some  fermenting  fluid, 
can  be  skimmed  off  in  an  instant.  Has  this  sense- 
less declaimer,  the  worthy  associate  of  the  profligate 
Cobbet,  ever  heard  of  the  Russian  peasantry,  of  both 
sexes,  voluntarily  arming  themselves,  swearing  on 
the  altar  of  their  God  to  perish  for  each  other,  and 
attacking  the  enemy,  without  even  an  officer  to  lead 
them  ?  If  he  has  not,  let  him  hear  it  now,  and  be 
silent  for  his  own  credit.  Has  he  ever  heard  of  the 
Russian  convicts  executing  faithfully  the  task  as- 
signed to  them,  when  all  authority  that  might  enforce 
their  obedience  was  removed,  and  when  to  obey  was 
death  ?  If  he  has  not,  let  him  learn  now,  that  even 
the  Russian  convicts  are  more  honest  and  loyal,  than 
the  clamorous  patriots  of  his  own  fashion,  whom  no 
prudent  man  will  dare  to  trust  so  far.  Has  he  ever 
heard  of  gentlemen  in  Russia,  offering,  as  did  Mr. 
Mamonoff,  their  whole  estates  in  gift  to  the  govern- 
ment— estates,  the  annual  income  of  which  would  at 
least  be  estimated  at  100,000  roubles  ?  If  he  hears 
this  for  the  *  first  time,  let  him  give  as  much  to  his 


132      SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

defeat  on  the  7th  of  Sept. ;  tho'  he  manoeuvred 
so  as  to  make  the  object  of  his  movements  at 
least  doubtful.  Being  acquainted  at  this 
time  with  another  disaster,  of  Oct.  18th,  simul- 
taneous with  Murat's  discomfiture,  and  second 
in  the  scale  of  fatality  to  that  of  Borodino — 
the  storming  of  Polotzk,  and  the  total  defeat 
of  St.  Cyr — in  consequence  of  which  marshal 
Victor,  who  had  advanced  from  Smolensk  to 
the  assistance  of  the  main  army,  was  compell- 
ed to  fall  back  with  precipitation — and  hearing 
also  that  the  principal  part  of  Kutuzow's  army 
was  marching  to  Malojaroslavitcz  to  intercept 
him, Buonaparte,  left  now  altogether  to  his  own 
resources,  and  bereft  of  all  hope  of  speedy 
assistance,  ordered  Davoust  to  dislodge  some 
of  the  Russians  from  this  town  who  had  al- 
ready entered  it  on  the  23d  :  But  they,  after  a 
tremendous  conflict,lasting  the  whole  next  day, 
when  the  town  was  taken  and  retaken  eleven 

own  government,  and  so  purchase  the  right  of  ques- 
tioning the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  Russians  ;  or,  if 
this  please  him  not,  let  him  ask  his  friend  Napoleon's 
opinion  of  them,  and  publish  it  for  the  edification  of 
Dr.  Clarke,  the  Edinburgh  Reviewers,  and  all  those 
less  significant?  though  still  more  zealous  calumnia- 
tors and  defamers  of  the  Russian  nation,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  in  America,  with  whose  names  it  would  be 
aYi  insult  to  the  reader  to  stain  these  pages. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.  133 

times,  firmly  maintained  their  ground  ;  and  on 
the  25th,  when  Buonaparte  himself  joined  in  the 
attack,  the  Russians^being  also  reinforced,drove 
him  back  with  disgrace  to  the  main  road  from 
which  he  had  started,  and  where,  on  the  pre- 
ceding day  (24th),  at  the  small  village  of  Grid- 
nevo,  he  had  already  a  sample  of  the  barba- 
rous enterprize  of  the  Cozaks,  who,  "  though 
they  make  nothing  but  noise,"  contrived  to 
break  into  the  very  centre  of  his  columns,  and 
take  six  pieces  from  his  park  of  artillery. 

Whether  Buonaparte,  by  making  this  at- 
tack, intended  to  pass  through  the  southern 
provinces,  or  merely  to  secure  his  retreat  to 
Smolensk,  which  place  the  Russians  might 
have  reached  by  a  shorter  way,  through  Malo- 
jaroslavitz,  it  is  certain,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
retrograde  to  the  main  road,  and  thus  confirm 
his  defeat  by  a  total  failure  in  his  object.  The 
obstinacy  of  the  attack  was  however  so  great, 
as  to  excite  Kutuzow's  principal  attention  to 
the  safety  of  the  southern  provinces,  in  conse- 
quence of  which,  Buonaparte  gained  two 
or  three  days'  march  ;  but,  at  the  moment 
that  this  was  extolled  on  his  part  as  an  ex- 
cellent military  manoeuvre,  which  succeeded 
in  deceiving  the  Russian  veteran,  General 
M 


134      SKETCH   OF   THE   PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

Miloradowitz,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Platow 
on  the  other,  convinced  the  enemy  that  his 
hopes,  and  those  of  his  supporters,  were  ill 
founded  ;  that  deceivers  often  deceive  them- 
selves 5  and  that  it  was  not  easy,  even  for  the 
"  flying"  French  columns,  to  run  away  from 
the  Russians.  Indeed,  from  this  time,  the 
French  retreat  was  converted  into  a  flight,  and 
their  rout  became  general.  Buonaparte,  with 
his  guards,  had  gone  a  head  ;  but  the  corps  of 
Davoust,  Ney,  and  Eugene  were  overtaken, 
broken,  and  pursued  through  Medin,  Wias- 
ma,  and  Duchovshtchina,  between  which 
and  Dorochovitchna,  the  viceroy's  corps 
(Eugene's)  was  separated  and  dispersed  on 
the  8th  of  November,  by  the  indefatigable 
Platow.  A  series  of  disasters,  which  now 
followed  the  French,  and  of  which,  every  inch 
of  the  road  they  left,  presented  dreadful  tokens, 
in  the  sick  and  wounded  abandoned,  horses 
dead  or  dying  by  hundreds,  baggage,  ammu- 
nition, and  cannon,  thrown  away  in  the  great- 
est disorder  and  confusion,  cannot  be  better 
described,  than  in  the  intercepted  letters  of 
Eugene,  and  in  the  29th  bulletin  itself.  It 
was  a  scene  of  horror,  not  to  be  mitigated 
even  by  the  reflection,  that  it  was  also  an 
evidence  of  the  retributive  justice  of  heaven, 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.        v!35 

frowning   upon  the  lawless  and  unprincipled 
invader. 

While  such  was  the  progress  of  the  Rus- 
sians in  this  quarter,  and  while  count  Winten- 
stein*  was  following  up  his  successes  in 
another — a  part  of  his  army  having  retaken 
Witepsk,  on  the  7th,  and  made  the  governor 
and  some  of  the  garrison  prisoners — he  him- 
self crossing  the  Dwina,  and  pursuing  St. 
Cyr  to  Lapelle  ; — the  Russian  army,  under 
Kutuzow,  was  marching  in  a  southern  direc- 
tion, parallel  to  the  main  road,  with  an  inten- 
tion of  occupying  Krasnoy,  in  front  of  Smo- 
lensko  ;  and  thus  of  intercepting  the  enemy's 
retreat.  Buonaparte,  however,  got  the  start 
by  several  days;  and  on  the  9th,  when  the  Rus- 
sian guard  reached  Elna,  he  was  already  at 
Smolensk  ;  which  place  he  would  have  left 
immediately,  were  it  not  that  the  shattered 
condition  of  his  troops  prevented  them  from 
keeping  pace  with  him,  and  compelled  him 
to  wait  for  them  three  days,  with  the  utmost 

*  The  author  regrets  extremely  that  he  cannot 
communicate  any  particular  intelligence  concerning 
this  brave  and  meritorious  officer  ;  his  own  deeds, 
however,  speak  for  him,  and  are  the  best  comments 
upon  his  talents,  so  forcibly  displayed  on  every  occa- 


136       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

anxiety  and  apprehension,  as  every  moment 
of  delay  \rendered  his  situation  more  critical, 
and  even  his  personal  safety,  at  best,  doubtful* 
It  will  be  recollected,  that  Buonaparte  af- 
fected to  consider  his  retreat  from  Moskow 
as  a  mere  political  measure,  calculated  to 
bring  him  nearer  to  St.  Petersburgh,  and  to 
his  own  resources  ;  intimating  thereby,  that 
Smolensko  was  his  place  of  destination  and 
"  land  of  promise."  This  wonderful  im- 
provement in  military  science,  this  new  meth- 
od of  advancing  by  going  backwards,  or  of 
approaching  a  certain  point,  by  actually  reced- 
ing from  it,  was  reserved  for  the  inventive 
genius  of  Buonaparte  ;  for,  Smolensko  being 
only  20  miles  nearer  to  St.  Petersburgh,  and 
the  distance  from  Moskow  to  Smolensko  be- 
ing about  200  miles,  he  must  have,  of  course, 
marched  180  miles  farther  from  his  object,  in 
search  of  a  worse  road,  and  at  a  season  too, 
when  any  military  movement  must  be  the 
result  of  dire  necessity  !  !  !  Absurd,  ridic- 
ulous, and  childish  as  this  protest  was,  Napo- 
leon's creatures  seized  it  with  avidity  ;  and, 
willing  to  be  cheated,  in  order  to  cheat  others, 
they  received  it,  even  with  gratitude,  as  a  to- 
ken of  his  kindness  and  condescension  ;  their 
disappointment,  chagrin,  and  vexation,  there- 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN,,       137 

fore,  on  hearing  of  his  removal  from  so  eligible 
a  spot,  were  so  great,  that  they  would  not  be- 
lieve even  his  own  confession,  which  truly 
stated,  that  the  Moldavian  army  advancing  to 
Minsk  made  Smolensko  untenable  ;  and  that, 
notwithstanding  the  lateness  of  the  season, 
and  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  he  was 
compelled  to  decamp,  in  order  to  avoid  being 
surrounded  and  cut  off  by  Kutuzow  in  the' 
rear,  Wintenstein  in  flank,  and  Tchitchagoff 
in  front.  Having  at  length  conjured  up  a  new 
phantom  of  "  winter  quarters  at  Wilna," 
which  consoled  and  satisfied  his  unbelieving 
friends  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic,  he  left 
Smolensko,  on  the  13th,  with  about  50,000 
men,  marching  to  Krasnoy,  apparently  in  the 
following  order  :  Eugene,  who  seems  to  have 
escaped  wTith  the  shattered  remnant  of  his 
corps  reduced  to  about  10,000  men,  formed 
the  advanced  guard  ;  Buonaparte,  with  his 
own  guards,  and  Duvoust,  were  in  the  centre 
with  25,000  ;  and  Ney  brought  up  the  rear 
with  15,000  men.  A  small  Russian  party, 
which  had  already  occupied  Krasnoy,  imme- 
diately evacuated  it  ;  and  Eugene,  it  seems, 
passed  on  with,  comparatively,  a  small  loss  ; 
but  the  centre  was  stopped  by  Miloradowitz,, 

M* 


138        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

Bagration's  worthy  successor,  whose  activity 
in  having  outsped  the  enemy,*  and  brought  40 

*  The  rapidity  of  this  movement,  so  fatal  to  the 
enemy,  and  the  astonishing  vigilance  and  dexterity 
displayed  in  the  whole  pursuit  of  the  French,  again 
prove  how  unjustly  the  Russians,  among  other  faults, 
were  charged  with  want  of  activity  ;  and  were  allowed 
no  other  good  quality,  but  that  of  passive  valour,  the 
result  of  slavish  fears,  rather  than  of  true  courage. 
The  ungrateful  world  forgot,  that  Suwarow's  march 
to  the  river  Rimnick,  by  which  he  saved  the  Austrian 
army  from  destruction  ;  and  his  march  to  Trebia,  in 
Italy,  which  prevented  Macdonald's  junction  with 
Moreau,  have  no  parallel  in  history  ;  and,  indeed, 
his  whole  Italian  campaign  was  a  scene  of  activity 
altogether  unexampled.  The  present  campaign  in 
Russia  will  thus  revive,  by  new  feats,  the  remem- 
brance of  former  achievements.  Bagration's  march 
to  Smolensko ;  Oertil's  expedition  to  Slutzk,  when  he 
marched  upwards  of  24  miles  for  several  days  with- 
out intermission,  in  the  hottest  season,  and  often 
without  food  or  water  ;  and  particularly  colonel 
Tchernishew's  journey,  at  the  I  ead  of  a  small  cavalry 
detachment,  from  Volhynia  to  the  Dwina,  a  distance 
of  500  miles,  traversed  in  five  days,  will  live  for  ever 
in  the  memory  of  man.  This  last  appears  so  ro- 
mantic and  incredible,  that  lord  Cathcart's  despatch, 
by  announcing  it,  was  nearly  deprived  of  its  offi- 
cial authentic  character  ;  but  if  the  reader  bears  in 
mind  the  extracts,  given  in  the  preceding  tract,  in 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         139 

pieces  of  cannon  to  bear,  is  as  honourable  to 
himself,  as  to  the  foresight,  judicious  arrange- 
ments, and  well-timed  orders  of  the  venerable 
commander  in  chief,  Kutuzow.  In  the  ac- 
tion thus  forced,  which  took  place  on  the 
17th,  Buonaparte  and  Davoust  (the  latter  was 
wounded)  saved  themselves  only  by  flight  ; 
and  left  20,000,  nearly  the  whole  corps,  kil- 
led, wounded,  and  prisoners,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Russians.  Ney  came  up,  the  next  day, 
(18th,)  and  shared  the  same  fate.  Forty  pieces 
of  cannon  opened  upon  him,  at  the  distance  of 
250  yards,in  consequence  of  which  12, 000  men 
laid  down  their  arms ;  and  the  rest  being  nearly 
destroyed,  the  marshal,  who  was  himself 
wounded,  with  the  greatest  difficulty  escaped. 

which  are  mentioned  several  feats  performed  by  the 
Russian  cavalry,  without  any  apparent  diminution  of 
power  in  the  horses,  he  will  have  no  doubt,  that  the 
journey  was  actually  performed  ;  the  more  so,  as 
colonel  Tchernishew  is  renowned  for  exploits  of  this 
kind,  having  once  gone  from  St.  Petersburgh  to  Par- 
is in  14  days,  the  quickest  travelling  ever  known. 

The  author  himself  has  more  than  once  travelled 

~in  Russia  upwards  of   120  miles    in  one  day,  without 

changing  the  horses  ;  and  on  one  occasion,  he  owed 

his  life    entirely  to  this  prodigious   strength    of  the 

Russian  horse. 


140        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

Thus,  out  of  85,000  effective  men,  composing 
the  grand  army  at  the  time  of  leaving  Moskow, 
as  appeared  from  the  returns  of  the  French 
commissary  general,  who  was  made  prisoner, 
38,000  were  destroyed  or  taken  between  Mos- 
kow  and  Smolcnsko,  from  October  22d  to 
November  9th  ;  35,000  between  Smolensko 
and  Krasnoy,  on  the  16th,  17th,  and  18th  of 
November  ;  and  12,000  only  escaped,  being 
Buonaparte's  guards,  and  the  remnant,  still 
further  reduced,  of  Eugene's  corps. 

Oudinot,  who  resumed  the  command  after 
St.  Cyr,  and  Victor  (duke  of  Belluno),  all  this, 
while  remained  near  New  Lupelle,  collecting 
all  the  forces  they  could  from  East  Prussia, 
and  the  different  garrisons  in  Poland,  in  order 
to  relieve  Buonaparte,  of  whose  dangerous 
situation  they  were  fully  informed.  As  Win- 
tenstein's  position  prevented  them  from  being 
of  any  immediate  service  to  their  master,  and 
endangered  the  contemplated  retreat  of  the 
grand  army  from  Smolensk,  Buonaparte,  be- 
fore he  left  that  place,  had  ordered  them  to 
drive  the  count  back  across  the  Dwina  ;  but 
Victor,  who  on  the  14th  attempted  to  exe- 
cute these  orders,  wras  repulsed  with  great 
loss,  and,  followed  by  Wiutenstein,  fell  back 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      141 

towards  the  Beresina,  with  a  view  of  being 
supported  by  the  duke  of  Reggio  (Oudinot.) 
Here,  a  few  days  afterwards,  some  time  be- 
tween the  22d  and  24th,  these  two  French 
generals  were  joined  by  the  imperial  fugitive, 
who,  after  the  battle  of  the  17th,  had  escaped 
to  Orsha  ;  and  left  this  last  place  on  the  20th, 
bringing  with  him  the  miserable  wrecks  of  his 
army,  constantly  pursued  by  the  tremendous 
Platow.  The  French  force,  thus  united,  was 
estimated  at  upwards  of  70,000  strong  ;  and 
most  of  the  troops  being  either  just  arrived, 
or  exempt  from  the  sufferings  of  the  main 
army,  were  in  good  condition,  and  so  well 
supplied  with  cavalry  and  artillery,  as  to 
make  the  odds  rather  against  the  Russians, 
harassed  with  fatigue,  and  exhausted  in  the 
incessant  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  But  at  this 
critical  juncture,  admiral*  Tchitchagoff — 

*  Admiral  Tchitchagoff  is  upwards  of  40  years  of 
age,  and  was  captain  of  a  first  rate  man  of  war, 
when  he  had  scarcely  passed  the  age  of  twenty.  As 
a  volunteer  in  the  British  service,  he  was  much  dis- 
tinguished for  his  talents  and  activity,  and  was  unan- 
imously considered  by  the  British  navy  as  one  of  the 
first  naval  officers  in  Europe.  By  his  own  merit  he 
rose  to  his  present  rank,  and  was  for  some  time 
minister  of  the  marine,  in  which  important  office  ho 


142       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

whose  advanced  guard,  under  count  Lam- 
bert, had  already  defeated  Dombrowsky  on 
the  21st,  and  expelled  him  from  Borissow  af- 
ter the  loss  of  3,100  prisoners,  and  1,000 
killed — appeared  in  that  town,  on  the  24th, 
with  the  rest  of  his  army  ;  and  thus  posses- 
sed himself  of  the  road,  by  which  Buona- 
parte intended  to  pass.  In  consequence  of  this, 
the  contest  in  detail  became  very  desperate  ; 
but  altogether  against  the  French,  as  in  the 
different  attacks,  from  the  24th  to  the  27th, 
Wintenstein  alone  had  taken  from  the  enemy 
upwards  of  13,000  prisoners,  including  Pan- 
toureaux's  division  of  8,000  men,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  29th  bulletin,  had  "  missed  its 

acquitted  himself  with  great  credit  and  ability.  The 
want  of  opportunity  to  act  on  his  own  element  ;  the 
desire  of  contending  with  Buonaparte,  of  whose  mil- 
itary talents  he  had  an  exalted  idea  ;  and,  above  all, 
the  ardent  wish  to  serve  his  country,  induced  him, 
it  seems,  to  seek  the  field  of  glory  ;  and  his  offers  of 
service  being  immediately  accepted,  his  new  career 
proved  as  successful,  as  if  he  were  a  veteran,  bred  up 
in  the  camp.  It  may  be  truly  said,  that  he  is  a  man 
of  few  words,  but  eloquent  in  deeds  ;  dignified  to  his 
superiors  ;  familiar  with  his  friends;  and  affable  to  his 
inferiors.  Russia  cannot  boast  of  a  son  more  con- 
spicuous for  brilliant  endowments,  noble  spirit,  inde- 
pendent mind,  and  indexible  integrity. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          143 

way,"  and  caused  "  the  cruel  loss  of  2,000 
infantry." 

Buonaparte  made  several  efforts  to  pass  the 
Beresina  at  Borissow  ;  hut  having  foiled  in  all, 
he  went  about  ten  miles  higher,  and  finally, 
on  the  27th,  effected  his  passage  with  Oudi- 
not's  corps  ;  leaving  Victor  behind,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river,  to  protect  the  bridge  which 
was  thrown  over.     At  this  time,  Platow  was 
at  Borissow,  in  the  rear  of  the  French  army  ; 
Wintenstein  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Beresina, 
watching  Victor's  corps  ;    and  Tchitchagoff 
occupied  the  opposite  bank,  on  the  same  side 
with  Oudinot  and  Buonaparte.     The   three 
Russian    generals    being  in    communication 
with  each  other,  Platow  as  it  were  forming  the 
centre,  and  the  other  two  the  right    and  left 
wings,  concerted  a  general  attack,  and,  on  the 
28th,  successfully  carried  their  plan  into  exe- 
cution.    Tchitchagoff,   being  the  nearest  to 
the  enemy,  was  the  first  to  commence  the  at- 
tack upon  Oudinot ;  Wintenstein,  about  half  an 
hour  after,  fell  upon  Victor ;  and  Platow  co- 
operated   with    both,    as   occasion    required. 
The  battle  terminated  in  a  terrible  and  deci- 
sive defeat  of  the  French.     It  was  a  finishing 
stroke  to  their  hopes  and  fortunes  ;   and  the 
last  expiring  effort  of  the  vanquished. 


144         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

The  29th  bulletin,  in  vain  labours  to  con- 
ceal ihis  last  overthrow  of  Buonaparte,  by 
pretending,  that  he  found  another  shorter  and 
better  way  to  Wilna.  It  was  evident,  that, 
as  his  object,  acknowledged  in  the  same  bul- 
letin, was  to  go  to  Minsk,  which  commanded 
the  main,  and  indeed  the  only  road  to  Wil- 
na or  Warsaw,  he  was  driven  from  it  by 
Tohitchagoff,  and  compelled  to  fly  across  the 
country,  where  the  elements  for  once  be- 
friended him  ;  for,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
severe  frost,  he  could  never  have  passed  the 
lakes  and  morasses,  situated  that  way,  and 
must  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Rus- 
sians. It  was  also  evident,  that  the  doleful 
tone  of  the  bulletin  was  caused  by  some  new 
misfortunes,  left  untold,  and  subsequent  to  the 
battle  of  the  28th.  Accordingly,  by  the  later 
arrivals,  we  see  the  whole  mystery  develop- 
ed ;  the  curtain  is  drawn  up,  and  we  are 
presented  with  a  consummation  of  French 
disasters — a  consummation  which,  were  it 
not  for  the  bulletin  itself,  the  modesty  of  the 
preceding  Russian  accounts*  would  never 

*  Admiral  TchitchagofTs  despatch  of  November 
29th,  says,  that  he  drove  the  enemy  back  about  13 
wersts,  and  was  marching  to  Ostrowitz  ;  and  it  is 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          UJ> 

have  led  us  to  anticipate.  TchitchagoflF,  hav- 
ing driven  the  French  army  across  the  country, 
was  pursuing  them  by  the  main  road  to  Molo- 
detchina ;  and  Wintenstein,  on  the  opposite 
side,  was  pushing  through  Velika  to  Wil- 
na,  in  order  to  annoy  the  enemy  in  flank,  and, 
if  possible,  to  intercept  him.  Well  might  the 
bulletin  be  silent,  as  to  the  events  that  follow- 
ed ;  for  the  passage  of  the  Beresina  alone  cost 
the  French  20,000  men  ;  and  the  flight  to 
Wilna,  and  its  capture,  cost  them  20,000 
more,  besides  the  immense  stores,  magazines, 
upwards  of  200  pieces  of  cannon,  standards, 
and  colours  in  abundance.  Waggons,  tum- 
brels, gun-carriages,  carcasses,  and  wrecks  of 
every  description,  in  many  places,  choked  up 
the  roads,  so  as  to  make  them  absolutely  im- 
passable, and  serve  the  enemy  for  a  temporary 
defence.  Buonaparte  narrowly  escaped  with 
his  life;  and  having,  on  the  5th  of  December, 
fled  in  disguise  from  the  village  of  Teberhetzi, 
(Paris  accounts  agree  exactly  as  to  the  time  of 
his  leaving  the  army,  though  not  as  to  the 
circumstances,)  the  Russians,  on  the  10th  of 
December,  entered  Wilna,  as  it  were  "  on 

only  by  finding  this  place  on  the  map,  that  his 
marching  is  ascertained  to  be  in  fact  pursuing  the 
enemy  with  irresistible  vigour. 


146        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

the  shoulders  of  the  enemy."     So  rapid  was 
their  progress,   that  the  French  had  not  one 
moment  to  halt  in  the  city,  or  to  destroy  their 
stores  and  magazines,  collected  there  ;    and 
\vhen  Davoust's  aid-de-camp    was  sent  with 
orders  to  the  rear,  he  found  the  whole  captur- 
ed and  replaced  by   the  Russian    advanced 
guard,  which  made  him  also  prisoner.     Nay, 
scarcely  had  these  fear-stricken  fugitives  left 
the  to\Vn,  than  they  were  again  overtaken  by 
Platow,  were  cut  off  from  the  road  to  Warsaw, 
and  beaten  at  Kawno  with  the  loss  of  6,000 
prisoners  ;    so  that,  whether  they  direct  their 
march  to   Konigsberg,  or   to  the  interior  of 
East  Prussia, — .and  whether  their  number  is 
more,  or   less  than  13,000  men, — as  long  as 
they  march  in  a  body,  they  will  be  pursued, 
and  must  eventually  surrender,  or  perish,  be- 
fore they  reach  the  Vistula.     It  is  impossible 
for  any,  but  the  stragglers,  to  escape  beyond 
that  river  ;  and  the  final  doom  of  the  melan- 
choly  remnant,  now  wandering  at  random, 
will  be  fixed  before  the  new  year  can  witness 
their  misery. 

The  Baravian  division,  which  was  attached 
to  Oudinot's  corps,  has  already  surrendered  to 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         147 

major-general  Kutuzow.*  Regnier's  corps 
is  also  said  to  have  been  taken  ;  and  Macdon- 
ald,  who  had  not  moved  from  Courland,  till 
the  12th  of  December,  was  already  inter- 
cepted, and  his  Prussian  troops  remained 
with  the  Russians  :  the  rest,  if  there  be  any 
left,  will  also  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  con- 
querors. The  prince  of  Swartzenburg  is  the 
only  general,  that  may  hope  to  save  his  men  ; 
but  as  these  are  altogether  Austrians,  they 
are  equally  lost  to  Buonaparte.  In  short, 
the  French  army,  the  most  numerous,  and 
best  appointed,  that  ever  appeared,  has  been, 
in  a  little  more  than  five  months,  swept  from 
the  earth.  It  exists  no  more,and  is  only  remem- 
bered by  the  awful  traces  it  left  behind ;  by 
the  instructive  lesson  it  has  bequeathed  to  the 

*  This  gallant  officer,  probably  a  relation  of  the 
field-marshal's,  succeeded  in  command  the  brave 
Winzingerode,  who  was  so  active  against  Mojaisk, 
and  who  retook  Moskow  ;  but,  urged  by  feelings 
of  humanity  to  spare  the  garrison,  imprudently  ad- 
vanced to  a  parley,  and  was  treacherously  seized. 
He  was  escorted  by  the  French  to  Germany,  when 
colonel  Tchernisheif,  in  his  extraordinary  expedition 
from  Volhynia  to  the  Dwina,  fell  in  with  the  escort^ 
rescued  the  noble  prisoner,  and  brought  him  to  St. 
Petersburgh. 


148       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

World,  and  by  the  manifest  and  wonderful  in- 
terposition of  Providence,  infavour  of  a  people 
struggling  in  defence  of  their  just  and  sacred 
rights. 

It  seems,  as  if  the  magnitude  of  object,  and 
the  immensity  of  preparation,  were  only  de- 
signed to  make  failure  and  destruction  pro- 
portSonably  extensive.  No  phenomenon  was 
ever  so  portentous  in  its  beginning,  and  so 
auspicious  in  its  termination.  Its  first  appear- 
ance was  that  of  a  baleful  comet,  or  the  huge 
eclipse,  shedding  "  disastrous  light"  on  the 
affrighted  world  ;  but  its  exit  left  a  mild 
and  unexpected  radiance  behind,  which  re- 
joices, and  will  continue  to  rejoice?  the  now 
respiring  nations.  No  spectacle,  at  first  so 
dismal  and  terrible,was  more  magnificent  in  its 
progress,  and  none  was  ever  more  brilliantly 
closed.  The  very  ground  which,  five  months 
since,  had  trembled  beneath  the  daring  and 
lawless  foot  of  the  boasting,  insulting,  and  re- 
morseless invader,  now  reposes  beneath  the 
congenial  and  well  known  tread  of  its  legiti- 
mate owners.  Poland  receives  again  the 
Russian  armies,  and  again  sees  their  stan- 
dards wave  on  her  ramparts  ;  but  she  ex- 
pects peace  and  happiness,  and  fears  not  to  be 
deceived.  Instructed  by  the  painful  expert 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         149 

ence  of  the  past,  she  returns  to  the  bosom  of 
her  natural  protector,  with  whom  by  custom, 
religion,  language,  and  the  same  origin,  she 
is  closely  and  inseparably  united.*  Ku- 
tuzow,  who  entered  Wilna  on  the  12th, 
forms  the  prominent  character  in  this  last  and 
truly  sublime  scene.  He  seems  the  centre 
of  motion,  and  the  soul  of  action,  while  all 
around  him  is  rapidity,  order,  harmony,  and 
activity  -,  a  combination  of  skill,  discipline, 
and  zeal,  which  makes  each  agent,  in  his  par- 
ticular sphere,  equally  great,  and  which  ren- 
ders any  comparison,  or  discrimination  of 
merit,  impossible.  All  have  done  their  duty  ^ 
all  have  deserved  well  of  their  country ;  all 
have  commanded  the  world's  admiration ;  and 
all,  through  the  various  changes  of  time,  with 
joy  and  gratitude  will  be  remembered  by 
posterity. 

Thus  ends  the  most  eventful  tragedy  that 
ever  w^s  performed  on  the  world's  stage  ;  a 
tragedy,  where  nations  were  spectators,  where 
upwards  of  700,000  men  appeared  as  actors, 
where  reality  surpassed  the  poet's  fruitful 
imagination,  and  where  the  invisible  hand, 
which  directed  all,  had  disposed  time,  plot, 

*  It  is  a  well  known  £  ct,  that  the  Russian  govern- 
ment always  has  been  the  most  popular  in  Poland* 

N* 


150         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

and  incidents  according  to  the  established, 
and  most  approved  rules  of  the  drama.  The 
previous  correspondence,  and  the  proclama- 
tion immediately  preceding,  form  the  pro- 
logue to  the  bloody  business.  From  the 
middle  of  June,  to  the  middle  of  August,  the 
various  movements  and  manoeuvres,  on  both 
sides,  make  up  the  first  act,  and  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  the  plot.  From  the  18th  of  August, 
beginning  with  the  battle  of  Smolensko,  to 
the  6th  of  September,  is  a  second  act ;  where 
the  plot  is  rising,  and  beginning  slowly  to 
shew  itself.  The  third  act  commenced  with 
the  horrid  battle  of  Borodino,  on  the  7th 
of  September  ;  and  though  the  change 
of  fortune  has  actually  taken  place  ;  yet 
hopes  and  fears  are  so  artfully  balanced, 
that  the  interest  increases,  and  expectation 
becomes  more  and  more  excited.  The 
fourth  act  begins  with  Murat's  defeat  on 
the  18th  of  October,  and  the  consequent 
evacuation  of  Moskow.  Here,  the  great 
reverse  assumes  a  decisive  character  ;  the 
plot  is  ripened  into  explosion  ;  the  causes, 
leading  to  the  main  catastrophe,  are  boldly 
and  openly  brought  into  action  ;  incidents 
thicken  on  incidents;  events  follow  each  other 
in  rapid  and  brilliant  succession  ;  and  the  act 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PKESEVF  CAMPAIGN.         151 

concludes  with  Buonaparte's  entrance  into 
Smolensko,  on  the  9th  of  November.  The 
audience  are  now  impatient  for  the  fifth  act ; 
and  at  length  it  appears  with  the  retreat  from 
Smolensko,  and  the  destruction  of  Davoust 
and  Ney's  corps,  between  the  17th  and  18th 
of  November.  This  is,  as  it  ought  to  be,  by 
far  the  busiest  act.  It  impels  the  specta- 
tors along,  and,  gathering  strength  in  its  ac- 
celerated progress,  it  hurries  them  from  scene 
to  scene,  until  they  reach  the  final  catastrophe, 
scarcely  sensible  of  the  distance  they  have 
traversed.  Here  they  pause,  and  here  the  he- 
ro of  the  piece  delivers  his  last  speech  and 
confession  (29th  bulletin)  retires  to  die  (polit- 
ically) behind  the  scenes,  and  leaves  the  sub- 
ordinate actors  to  shift  for  themselves ;  who, 
one  by  one,  quit  the  stage,  and  go  where  they 
can,  stripped  of  their  false  ornaments,  divest- 
ed of  their  scenic  grandeur,  and  restored  to 
their  native  and  original  obscurity. 

If  a  recapitulation  of  the  principal  events, 
and  their  effects,  exhibited  in  the  play,  may 
with  propriety  enter  into  an  epilogue,  the 
tragedy  in  Poland  will  not  be  deficient  in  this 
particular  ;  and  here  is  the  proof  : 


152         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 


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SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         155 


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154         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

The  Russian  returns  seem  to  support  this 
calculation  ;  but  though  it  is  impossible  to 
make  it  accurate,  without  having  all  the  items 
at  command,  yet,  as  the  number  of  killed,  and 
of  those  who  perished  by  disease,  famine,  and 
cold,  is  not  extravagant  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  prisoners,  which  is  more  easily  ascer- 
tained, there  cannot  be  any  material  error  as 
to  the  issue.  The  Russian  accounts  make 
also  the  number  of  cannon  taken  somewhat 
greater  ;  but  the  variation  is  not  of  sufficient 
importance ;  and  it  is  better  to  fall  short,  than 
to  overrate  the  real  amount.  Waggons,  bag- 
gage, standards,  colours,  and  other  trophies, 
taken  in  great  quantities,  could  not  be  well 
enumerated,  and  are  accordingly  omitted. 
The  loss  of  horses  was  not  stated  for  the 
same  reason,  though,  according  to  the  29th 
bulletin,  30,000  of  them  perished  in  a  few 
days,  and  though  the  total  loss,  throughout 
this  memorable  campaign,  could  scarcely 
have  been  less  than  150,000  ;  170,000  horses 
being  the  assumed  proportion  to  498,000  men, 
the  amount,  according  to  some  calculations, 
of  the  whole  French  force,  which  is  now  no 
more.  The  llth  corps,  under  the  duke  of 
Castiglione  (Augereau,)  is  supposed  to  have 
gone  into  Russian  Poland  at  different  times,  to 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.  155 

reinforce  the  French  armies.  This  supposition 
is  very  probable,  from  the  good  state  of  the 
French  soldiers  before  the  battle  of  Borissow^ 
when  they  appeared  quite  fresh,  and  increased 
the  French  force  beyond  what  was  warranted 
by  the  knowledge  of  the  small  remains  of  the 
main  army,  and  of  repeated  defeats,  which  re- 
duced Victor's  and  Oudinot's  corps  to  almost 
half  their  original  numbers.  If  the  llth  corps 
remained  all  this  time  in  Prussia,then  400.000 
men  is  not  a  sufficient  estimate  of  the  French 
army  ;  and,  in  such  case,  this  same  corps, 
distributed  along  the  Vistula,  might  give  pre- 
text for  stating  the  various  positions*  of  the 

*  Paris  papers  pretend  to  give  positions  of  the 
different  corps,  as  if  they  had  actually  escaped  ;  but 
the  slightest  examination  of  the  map  will  convince  us 
that, either  these  corps  are  mere  skeletons,  consisting 
of  a  few  officers,  or  that  the  statements  are  barefaced 
fabrications.  Macdonald's  corps,  for  instance,  is  pla- 
ced on  the  Niemen,  when, by  his  own  account,  all  his 
Prussian  troops  had  surrendered,  or  gone  over  ;  and 
they,  as  can  be  proved  from  the  former  bulletins, 
composed  his  whole  corps,  with  the  exception  of  the 
staff  and  officers.  From  Wilna,  which  the  French 
left  on  the  10th,  to  Warsaw,  which  is  the  nearest  po- 
sition stated,  the  distance  is  about  280  miles,  and  to 
Marienwarder,  the  farthest  position,  about  420  miles. 
The  account  is  dated  at  Konigsburg  on  the  3 1st  of 


156       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

grand  army,  that  was.       Such    was    Buona- 

December  ;  allowing,  therefore,  3  days  for  Berthier 
to  receive  reports  from  the  different  corps,  there  re- 
main only  17  days,  to  perform  the  march  of  350 
miles,  taking  that  to  be  the  average  distance  to  the 
Vistula.  At  a  season  so  severe,  a  body  of  men,  ex- 
hausted and  deprived  of  the  proper  means  of  convey- 
ance,— whose  quickest  march  from  the  Beresina  to 
Wilna,  was  only  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  a  day,  when 
comparatively  in  a  better  condition, — never  could  go 
over  the  distance  of  350  miles,  at  the  rate  of  more 
than  20  miles  a  clay.  It  is  impossible  ;  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  such  a  fabrication  confirms,  if  any  confir- 
mation were  wanting,  the  total  annihilation  of  the 
French  armies.  It  is  but  a  few  weeks,  since  Paris 
papers  announced,  that  Victor  was  at  Myr  and  Slonim, 
and  Buonaparte  took  Toula  and  Kaluga  !!! 

In  proof  of  our    statement  of  the  numerical  force 
of  the  French  grand  army,  as  it  entered  Russia,  we 
give  the  names  of  the  commanders   of  the  1 1  corps, 
each  of  which  consisted  of  between  30  and  40,000  men: 
King  of  Naples — (Murat,  prince  JoachimNapoleon.) 
Viceroy  of  Italy — (Prince  Eugene  Beauharnois.) 
Prince  Eckmuhl — (Marshal  Davoust.) 
Duke  of  Belluno — (Marshal  Victor.) 
Duke  of  Castiglione — (Marshal  Augereau.) 
Duke  of  Dantzic — (Marshal  Lefebre.) 
Duke  of  Elchingen — (Marshal  Ney.) 
Duke  of  Istris — (Marshal  Bessiers.) 
Duke  of  Reggio — (Marsha!  Ouclinot.) 
Duke  of  Tarento — (Marshal  Macdonald.) 
Duke  of  Treviso — (Marshal  Mortier.) 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN,       157 

parte's  own  expression,  when  he  announced 
the  annihilation  of  Moskow. 

NOW  that  the  spectators  have  retired 
with  different  impressions,  according  to  their 
feelings,  passions,  and  interest,  it  may  not  be 
improper  or  presumptuous  to  cast  a  look 
into  futurity,  and  to  discover,  if  possible,  in 
the  regions  of  Time,  as  yet  unexplored,  the 
different  routes  and  paths,  which  various  na- 
tions will  probably  take,  in  consequence  of 
the  great  events  they  have  witnessed.  The 
questions,  which  naturally  suggest  themselves) 
are  these : 

1.  How  far   will  Russia  follow  up  her  suc- 
cesses ? 

2.  What  will  be  the  conduct  of  the  Euro- 
pean  nations  ? 

3.  How  far   will  Buonaparte   be   able  to 
check  the  Russians,  and  preserve  his  allies  ? 

FIRST,  then,  how  far  will  Russia  follow 
lip  her  successes  ? 

The  policy  of  Alexander  is  open  and  man- 
ly, soaring  above  mean  intrigue,  and  low 

subterfuge.     He   honestly    declared    to    the 
o 


158        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN 

world,  that  the  restoration  of  the  Prussian 
monarchy  to  its  independence  and  integrity 
was  essential  to  his  interests,  as  it  would 
form  a  bar  of  separation  between  his  and  the 
French  empire.  He  also  made  it  known 
through  Kutuzow,  that  no  peace  can,  or  shall 
be  made,  until  the  French  have  repassed  the 
Vistula.  Therefore,  when  it  is  considered,  that 
this  comes  from  an  emperor,  who  has  just  re- 
deemed the  pledge,  given  to  his  people,  of 
"  never  sheathing  his  sword,  as  long  as  a  single 
enemy  remained  on  his  territories  ;"  it  cannot 
be  doubted,  but  he  will  pursue  the  enemy  be- 
yond the  Vistula, — to  Berlin, — and  further,  if 
necessary, — to  rescue,  in  the  first  instance,  the 
king  and  kingdom  of  Prussia  from  thraldrom  ; 
and  thus  inflict  a  noble  vengeance  on  the  shade 
of  Frederic  the  Great,  whose  jealousies  and 
hatred  of  the  Russian  nation,  and  whose  un- 
worthy conduct  towards  the  founder  of  the 
Russian  empire,*  are  an  indelible  stain  on  his 
own  memory. 

*  There  is  scarcely  a  story,  ever  so  absurd  and 
humiliating  to  Peter  the  Great,  which  Frederic  had 
not  invented  or  circulated,  and  forced  into  public  be- 
lief by  the  weight  of  his  own  authority  and  charac- 
ter. It  seems,  he  foresaw,  that  Peter's  works  would 
prove  much  more  solid  than  his  own  ;  and  full  of  en- 


SKETCH  OF    THE  PRESENT  CAMPAKiX.         159 

The  well-known  disposition  of  Alexander, 
whose  ambition  is,to  be  the  pacificator,  and  not 
the  conqueror  of  the  world  ;  his  extreme  id/ 
luctance  to  shed  human  blood,  even  in  cases 
of  necessity  ;  and  the  vast  expenses  and  sac- 
rifices attending  a  foreign  war,  might  induce 
us  to  believe,  that  he  would  not  in  an}7  event 
advance  beyond  the  Elbe  :  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  his  wisdom,  and  the  dearest  interests  of 
his  country,  will  not  permit  him  to  throw 
away  the  advantages  he  has  acquired  ;  to  allow 
the  enemy  to  recover  breath  ;  and  be,  at  the 
end,  compelled  to  go  through  the  same  pro- 
cess, in  order  to  re-purchase  the  same  advan- 
tages. Delay,  being  favourable  to  the  enemy, 
is  of  course  prejudicial  to  himself;  and,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  would  be  a  griev- 
ous fault,  almost  irreparable.  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  Russian  emperor  will  pur- 
sue the  war,  until  the  Rhenish  confederacy 
is  broken,  the  duke  of  Oldenburg  restored  to 
his  dominions,  Holland  rescued  from  her  bon- 

vy  and  malice,  set  every  engine  at  work  to  defame 
his  deeds,  and  tarnish  his  character.  The  injury  he 
had  thus  committed  on  the  Ynemory  of  a  man,  far 
greater  than  himself,  was  so  great,  that  not  ail  his 
subsequent  half-way  recantations  could  ever  repair  if 


140        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

dage,  all  the  ports  in  the  north  of  Europe  arc 
opened  to  commerce,  and  an  honourable,  gen- 
eral peace  is  obtained  and  established  on  a 
permanent  basis. 

The  Rhenish  confederates,  who  groan  un- 
der French  oppression,  are  mostly  related  to 
the  emperor.  The  dukes  of  Weimar,  Baden, 
Mecklenburg,  and  others,  connected  with  him 
by  family  ties,  which  nothing  but  the  predom- 
inant power  of  France  could  break  for  a  mo- 
ment, all  entertain  strong  hopes  and  expecta- 
tions of  being  delivered  by  him  ;  and  he  will 
not  abandon  them,  when  Providence  has  now 
bestowed  on  him  the  enviable  power  to  save ; 
and  when  not  to  save,  would  shew  his  uncon- 
sciousness of  his  great  destiny.  He  will  pro- 
tect them  for  the  same  reason,  that  he  protects 
the  king  of  Prussia  and  the  duke  of  Olden- 
burg, who  are  likewise  his  relations. 

As  to  his  views  of  conquest,  they  do  not 
extend  beyond  Poland.  It  would,  however, 
be  a  just  reward  for  his  exertions,  and  a  bene- 
ficial exchange  to  the  inhabitants  themselves, 
to  leave  him  in  possession  of  the  country,  as 
far  as  the  Vistula,  and  of  the  Austrian  part^of 
Poland,  He  might  then  proclaim  himself 
king  of  Poland,  unite  and  consolidate  the  peo- 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      161 

pie,  and  gratify  their  pride  by  shewing  to  the 
world,  that,  as  a  nation,  they  are  still  in  exist- 
ence. It  is  of  the  partition  of  their  country 
among  the  different  powers, — separating,  as  it 
were,  brother  from  brother,  and  father  from 
son, — and  not  of  dependence  upon  anyone  in 
particular,  that  they  have  chiefly  complained. 
It  is  also  certain,  that,  if  they  were  left  to  their 
own  choice,  they  would  unanimously  prefer 
the  protection  of  Russia,  because  she  is  more 
able  to  defend  them  ;  and  because  her  govern- 
ment, wisely  and  mildly  administered,was  ren- 
dered still  more  popular  by  local  prejudices, 
in  her  favour ;  prejudices,  which  arise,  as  was 
already  mentioned,  from  the  similarity  of  lan- 
guage, customs,  and  other  circumstances.* 

*  This  has  been  amply  proved  in  the  last  and 
present  campaign,  when  the  attachment  of  the  Polish 
peasantry  to  Russia  withstood  Buonaparte's  most  al- 
luring promises,  and  when  defection  could  not  be 
extended  beyond  the  circle  of  nobles,  who  by.  the  con- 
quest of  Poland  lost  their  power  of  oppression,  and, 
under  the  surreptitious  form  of  liberty,  excited  the 
sympathies  of  the  world  in  favour  of  themselves, — in 
favour  of  cruel  and  multiplied  tyranny,  which  had 
the  power  of  life  and  death  over  every  poor  vassal, 
subjected  to  their  despotic  sway.  The  placing  of  the 
Polish  upon  the  same  footing  with  the  Russian  cerfs, 

was  in  fact  a  deliverance,  a  comparative  liberty  and 
O* 


162         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

Prussia,  for  the  loss  of  her  part,  might  be  easily 
indemnified  in  Saxony,  whose  king,  if  we  ex- 
cept the  elector  of  Bavaria,  is  the  most  attach- 
ed toFrance,and  therefore  may  justly  be  treated 
like  an  enemy.  Austria  also,  would  think  herself 
amply  paid,  for  the  loss  of  her  share,  by  the  re- 
covery of  her  German  and  Italian  states,  which 
she  can  easily  do  with  the  assistance  of  Russia. 
To  shew,  that  such  an  event  is  the  most  proba- 
ble, it  is  necessary  to  mention,  that  in  the  last 
campaign  (1806,  1807)  general  Beningsen,  on 
his  own  responsibility,  wished  to  proclaim  Al- 
exander as  king  of  Poland  :  and  his  not  doing 
so,  though  it  was  uncertain  whether  the  empe- 
ror would,  or  would  not,  sanction  the  project, 
was  considered  by  many,  as  an  unfortunate 
omission, 

happiness  to  the  former  :  for  the  Russian  cerf  is 
protected  in  his  life,  his  religion,  and  his  personal 
property  ;  and  any  violation  of  the  laws,  which  thus 
protect  him,  subjects  the  violator,  whoever  he  be,  to 
the  same  punishment,  as  if  the  injury  were  done  to  his 
equal.  In  truth,  the  Russian  cerf  is  only  a  tenant 
for  life  :  and  even  this  restriction  is  now  removing 
by  a  gradual  and  wisely  arranged  system  of  emanci- 
pation. Poland,  therefore,  in  being  conquered,  has 
been  rescued  from  tyranny  and  miseries  unexampled, 
and,  were  it  now  in  her  power,  nothing  would  induce 
her  to  resume  her  former:  condition. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          163 

SECONDLY,  what  will  be  the  conduct  of  the 
European  nations  ? 

Prussia  will  unquestionably  join  Russia, 
both  from  good  will,  and  from  the  force  of 
circumstances.  From  France  she  experien- 
ced nothing  but  disgrace  and  oppression  ; 
from  Russia,  she  has  known  nothing  but  kind- 
ness and  friendship,  and  now  from  her  alone 
she  can  expect  safety,  protection,  and  the  res- 
toration of  her  lost  independence.  She  cannot 
hesitate  for  a  moment  between  a  deadly  foe, 
who  has  thirsted  for  her  ruin,  and  a  faithful 
friend,  who  has  shed  his  blood  in  her  defence. 
The  Prussians  hold  the  French  in  abhor- 
rence ;  they  do  not  think  themselves  fairly  con- 
quered ;  and  pant  for  an  opportunity  of  vindi- 
cating that  military  character,  for  which  they 
were  so  celebrated  in  Frederic's  time,  and 
the  supposed  loss  of  which  is  most  galling  to 
their  pride — a  source  of  constant  humiliation, 
to  remove  which  they  would  spare  neither 
blood  nor  treasure. 

They  are  not,  besides,  'corrupted  by 
French  influence,  like  their  German  brethren  ; 
and  sStill  have  virtue,  talent,  and  patriotism 
enough  to  deliver  their  country  from  ignomin- 
ious bondage.  They  want  but  an  impulse, 
and  Russia  is  destined  to  give  it.  D'Yorke's 


164         SKETCH  OF  THE   PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

convention  with  the  Russian  general,  is  a  cer- 
tain pledge  of  their  hearty  co-operation  in  their 
own  cause,  and  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  Buon- 
aparte to  check  them.  If  he  restores  their 
king,  the  presence  of  their  sovereign,  whose 
present  language  is  only  the  language  of  re- 
straint, not  of  the  heart,  will  animate  them  to 
greater  exertion  ;  but  if  the  tyrant  should  re- 
move him,  they  will  be  the  more  incensed, 
and  stimulated  to  revenge.  Be  it  as  it  may, 
they  will  receive  the  Russians  as  friends  and 
brothers,  and  will  open  to  them  their  towns, 
their  houses,  and  their  arms,  with  most  cordial 
welcome.  Memel  has  already  shewn  the  ex- 
ample ;  Konigsberg,  Dantzic,  and  other  towns 
will  shortly  follow  it  ;  and  not  a  single  Prus- 
sian will,  from  choice,  appear  in  arms  against 
his  country's  deliverers.  The  king,  if  he  ever 
should  escape  from  the  French  guard,  placed 
over  him,  will  prove  worthy  of  his  subjects,  and 
largely  share  in  their  ardour  and  sympathies. 
If  he  ever  erred,his  misfortunes  are  a  sufficient 
expiation;  and  his  personal  attachment  to  the 
emperor  of  Russia,  strengthened  by  mutual 
esteem  and  consanguinity, -will  not  suffer  him 
to  relapse.  It  is  true,  however,  that,  like  oth- 
er men  whom  fortune  has  forsaken,  he  was 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.       165 

censured  with  more  asperity  than  justice, 
and  was  altogether  denounced  for  the  trans- 
gressions of  his  father,  who,  it  cannot  be  deni- 
ed, did  not  faithfully  adhere  to  his  engage- 
ments, and  was  in  every  respect  a  different 
character.  The  present  king,  whatever  may 
be  the  standard  of  his  talents,  yields  to  none 
in  probity  and  honour.  The  downfall  of  the 
coalition  in  1805,  so  uniformly  and  unjustly 
attributed  to  him,  originated  altogether  with 
Austria,  whose  premature  opening  of  the 
eampaign,and  impolitic  invasion  of  Bavaria, — 
which  terminated  in  the  cowardly  and  treach- 
erous surrender  of  Mack, — made  it  impossible 
for  the  Prussians  to  arrive  seasonably  enough  to 
retrieve  the  destructive  state  of  affairs.  The 
field,  in  fact,  was  taken  long  before  the  time 
stipulated  between  the  coalesced  powers  ;  and 
though  the  Russians,  by  forced  marches,  came 
up  sooner,  yet  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  and  the 
weakness  (not  to  say  perfidy)  of  the  Austrian 
councils  had  decided  the  contest,  before  the 
king  of  Prussia  arrived.  It  was  his  sincerity 
in  the  common  cause,  that  provoked  all  his 
subsequent  disasters,  by  incensing  Buona- 
parte, and  exciting  him  to  that  dreadful  ven- 
geance, which,  in  a  short  time,  made  Prussia 
a  dependent  and  mutilated  state,  and  her  mon- 


166         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN'. 

arch  a  beggar  and  a  prisoner.  The  principal 
error  this  unfortunate  king  committed,  was 
precisely  the  same  which,  on  the  part  of  Aus- 
tria, had  ruined  the  above  coalition  ;  that  is, 
being  too  confident,  or  too  eager  for  glory  to 
divide  it  with  the  Russians,  he  met  the  ene- 
my, before  they  came  to  his  assistance.  Ex- 
perience has  taught  him  now  the  value  of  his 
friends  ;  and  henceforth  he  will  place  implicit 
confidence  in  their  councils  and  professions. 
It  is  only,  as  their  steady  and  faithful  adherent, 
that  he  can  preserve  the  interest  and  the  safety 
of  his  country.  If  he  should  however  be  carried 
off, — a  measure  rather  probable  in  Buonaparte's 
present  desperate  condition, — Prussia,  even  by 
a  stronger  link,  will  be  united  to  the  destinies 
of  Russia. 

With  regard  to  AUSTRIA,  it  is  evident, 
from  the  preceding  paragraph,  that  a  conjec- 
ture on  her  future  conduct  would  be  very 
hazardous  ;  not  because  a  princess  of  her 
house  is  married  to  Buonaparte — this  relation- 
ship is  more  likely  to  prove  a  source  of  dis- 
cord ;  or,  if  not,  Alexander's  influence,  from 
the  same  source,  is  more  than  equal  in  Ger- 
many— but  because,undcr  the  long  and  habit- 
ual ascendency  of  the  French,  her  sense  of 
honour  is  deadened,  and  she  has,  by  degrees, 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.        16f 

accustomed  herself  to  hear  the  clanking  of  her 
chains    with   comparative   indifference.     Her 
spirit  is  broken  ;  and  she  is  in  the  situation  of 
a  slave,   who,  instead  of  resisting  the  tyrant 
that  lashes  him,  finds  his  only  consolation  in 
seeing   others  suffer   like   himself.     She  re- 
sembles   an    abandoned  woman,  who   hates 
chastity  in  others,  merely  because  she  has  lost 
her  own  ;  and  it   is  therefore  probable,  that 
the  successes  of  the  Russians,  by  reminding 
her   of  her  own  defeats,  may  give  her  more 
pain, than  even  the  deep  wounds  which  Buon- 
aparte  has  inflicted  on  her.     She  cannot  be 
unconscious,  that  she  is  the  principal  cause  of 
her  own  and  Europe's  prostration,  and  may 
prefer,  perhaps,  to  fall  rather  by  her  own  hand, 
than  be  raised  by  that  of  another.     The  more 
she   knows  her  own  defects,  the   more  she 
wishes    to    have    them   concealed,    and   the 
greater  is  her  mortification  in  being  reminded 
of  them  by  strangers.     Being  the  nearest  of 
the   great   continental   powers,  she   was   first 
of  all  assailed  with  the  poison  of  the  French 
revolution, — with  every    subsequent   exhala- 
tion from  that  hot-bed  of  corruption  ; — and  the 
effect  was  no  where   so  rapid,  and    so  fatally 
extensive.     Her  government,  in  a  short  time, 
became  a  putrid  mass,  which  infected  all  with- 


163      SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

in  its  reach  :  and  her  nobles  fell  so  low,  from 
their  former  pride  and  dignity,  that  a  princess 
of  the  imperial  house  stooped  voluntarily, 
nay,  thought  it  an  honour*  to  offer  her  person 
to  the  polluted  embrace  of  a  vile  usurper, 
robber,  and  murderer  ;  while  a  prince,  her 
relation,  and  formerly  a  hero,f  presided  at  the 

*  Louisa  Theresa  is  said  to  have  loved  Buonaparte 
before  she  saw  him  !  ! — The  Russian  princess, 
whom  he  first  solicited,  rejected  him  with  indignation  ; 
and  her  conduct  was  approved  by  her  mother  (the 
empress  dowager)  and  her  imperial  brother. 

t  The  Archduke  Charles,  who  degraded  himself  for- 
ever, by  thus  administering  to  the  tyrant's  ambition 
and  lustful  pleasures.  He,  at  least,  might  have  de- 
clined the  office.  What  a  contrast  is  this  to  the  be- 
haviour of  the  Russian  generals  ? — After  the  peace 
of  Tilsitz,  Buonaparte  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the 
celebrated  Beningsen,  who  so  successfully  opposed 
him  ;  and  being  refused,  he  sent  him  the  order  of 
the  legion  of  honour,  which  the  latter  immediately 
returned  with  this  emphatic  reply,  "  I  am  not  con- 
scious of  having  done  any  thing  to  deserve  this  honour." 

Several  French  generals  and  officers  wished  also 
to  pay  their  respects  to  the  venerable  Platow,  het* 
man  of  the  Cozaks  ;  but  when  they  approached  his 
tent,  and  requested  his  permission  to  enter,  he  sent 
them  the  following  answer  :  "  There  may  be  peace 
and  friendship  between  the  sovereign  my  master, 
and  the  French  emperor  ;  but  there  is  no  peace  and 
friendship  between  me  and  Frenchmen."  Accord- 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          169 

unhallowed  rites,  and  personated  the  monster, 
to  whom  she  was  sacrificed.  It  is  true,  that 
this  humiliation  was  not  instantaneous,  and 
the  remaining  spirit  of  ambition  occasionally 
broke  out  in  open  resistance  ;  but  it  was  the 
struggle  of  a  person,  who  expects  to  sink,  and 
who  takes  up  arms  with  no  resolution  to  per- 
severe,  and  with  no  hopes  to  conquer,  but 
rather  with  a  view  to  reconcile  himself  and 
others  to  his  final  submission.  It  was  the  im- 
pulse of  the  moment,  subsiding  almost  as  soon 
as  it  was  excited.  Austria  began  sometimes 
too  soon,  sometimes  too  late  ;  but  always 
finished  at  the  critical  moment,  when  it  was 
ruin  not  to  go  on.  She  slept  on  the  high  way; 
awoke  only  with  the  rude  shake  of  the  intrud- 
ing traveller  ;  and,  at  each  interval,  when  he 
relaxed  his  hold,  she  reclosed  her  eyes,  and 
dreamed  away  the  time,  which  she  should  have 
employed  in  activity.*  There  was  a  want 

ingly,  they  were  all  turned  off  without  seeing  the  he- 
ro, except  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  shrugging  of 
a  shoulder,  and  "  C'est  un  barbare,"  were  the  only 
palliatives  to  their  mortification. 

*  As  an  instance  of   this  apathy,  it  has  been  said, 

and    generally    believed,  that    while  Alexander  was 

exposing  his  person  in  the  cause  of  his  friend,  the 

emperor  of  Austria,  in  .the  battle  of  Austeriitz,  the 

P 


IrO        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

of  foresight  in  her  councils,  languor  in  her 
efforts,  heaviness  in  her  motion,  unsteadiness 
in  her  designs,  and  weakness  in  the  execution. 
Instead  of  forming  a  circle  round  her,  which 
none  should  approach  with  impunity,  or  of 
being  the  lion  in  his  own  forest,  she  waited 
till  she  was  trod  upon,  and  contented  herself 
with  a  temporary  display  of  impotent  anger, 
tending  to  encourage,  rather  than  repel,  the 
lawless  aggressor.  In  short,  insolence  in 
prosperity,  meanness  in  adversity,  and  perfidy 
in  both,*  have  for  the  last  fifteen  years  charac- 

good  emperor  himself  was  seated  on  a  beautiful 
verdant  bank,  and  amused  himself  the  \vhole  day 
with  fishing,  until  his  sport  was  interrupted  by  the 
unwelcome  news  of  the  battle  having  terminated 
rather  differently  from  what  he  expected  ! 

*  Lest  this  language  should  be  deemed  too  severe, 
and  not  founded  on  justice,  the  reader  must  be  re- 
minded, that  it  was  insolence^  which  made  her  grasp 
at  conquests  in  Italy,  when  the  Russians  became 
masters  of  that  country  in  1799  ;  that  it  was  mean- 
ness,  which  made  her  since  submit  with  patience  to 
every  indignity  from  France  ;  that  it  was  fierfidy  in 
firosfierity,  which  made  her  desert  Suwarow  in  Swit- 
zerland; and  that  it  w&sfierjidy  in  acfoerszV?/, which  made 
her  an  indifferent  spectator  of  the  last,  and  an  enemy 
in  the  present  contest  in  Poland ;  a  contest,  which 
threatened  destruction  to  the  generous  ally,  who 
mover  yet  appeared  in  arms  against  her,  but  readily 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.      l7l 

terised  her  political  conduct.     Upon  the  score 
of  friendship,  therefore,  of  good  policy,  or  of 

and  repeatedly  shed  his  best  blood  in  her  defence  ;  a 
contest,  in  which  she  had  it  twice  in  her  power, — for 
she  was  not,    like  Prussia,    disabled,    subdued,   and 
chained  to  the  conqueror's  car, — to  decide  the  fate  of 
Buonaparte,  by    interposing    her  force  between  him 
and  France  ;  a  contest,  indeed,  the  successful  issue  of 
which  would  have  sealed  her  own  total  and  instanta- 
neous annihilation  ;   and,  therefore,  by  sacrilegiously 
contributing  her  aid  to  it,  she  added  madness  to  per- 
fidy.    But  her  base  ingratitude  to  Suwarow, — to  him 
who  had  saved  her  army  on  the  river  Rimnick  from 
certain  destruction,  and  by  whose  arms  she  had  re- 
covered  all   Italy  in  one  summer, — never  can,  never 
will,  never  ought  to  be  forgotten.     By  mean  intrigue, 
she  snatched  him  from  the  arms  of  victory  in  Italy, 
and  sent  him  over    to  Switzerland,  at  a    most  unfa- 
vourable    season,    without     provision,    artillery,    or 
even  draught  horses,  so  that  he  was  forced  to  employ 
his  cavalry  for  that  purpose.     For  all  these  necessa- 
ries, he  was  referred  from  town  to  town  ;    but  every 
where  found  nothing,  but  empty  promises.     To  fin- 
ish the  whole,  and  to  prove,  that  he  was  sent  express- 
ly   to  be  sacrificed,   the   Austrian  troops    withdrew 
from  Zurich   before    he    came    there,    treacherous- 
ly    abandoning  the  position,    which  it    was    under- 
stood they  would  maintain  until  his  arrival.     In  con- 
sequence  of  this,  he  found   himself,  at   the   head  of 
16,000    men,    surrounded    by    a    French    army    of 
at  least  60,000,  amidst  mountains,  and  in  narrow  de- 
files, where  there  was  no  path  to  choose,  where  eve- 


172        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

honour,  nothing  can  be  expected  from  her.  It 
is  as  likely,  that  she  may  take  the  part  of  her 
direct  foe  against  her  best  friend,  as  that  she 
may  join  the  latter  against  the  former.  It  is 

ry  pass  was  occupied  by  the  enemy,  and  not  above 
four  men  abreast  could  march  forward.  Nothing  but 
Providence  and  his  genius  could  have  rescued  him 
from  such  a  perilous  situation  ;  and  by  these  he  was 
rescued.  His  victorious  and  matchless  retreat,  by 
far  the  most  brilliant  of  his  achievements,  made  him 
conqueror  of  the  French  even  after  his  death,  by  the 
contrast  it  left  to  the  miserable,  disgraceful,  and 
destructive  flight  of  the  boaster,  who  has  since,  like 
him,  been  called  «  Invincible,"  but  not,  like  him* 
worthy  of  the  title.  Suwarow,  anticipating  a  speedy 
dissolution  of  the  coalition,  if  the  treacherous  pro- 
ceedings of  Austria  were  divulged,  concealed  them  as 
long  as  was  possible  ;  and  his  doing  so  was  the  chief 
cause  of  the  emperor  Paul's  displeasure.  But  when 
the  Austrian  cabinet,  perceiving  the  Russians  upon  the 
retreat,  became  sensible  of  its  folly,  and  archduke 
Charles  was  commissioned  to  propitiate  Paul,  through 
the  medium  of  the  Russian  commander  ;  the  first 
time  that  the  archduke  requested  an  interview,  Su- 
warow replied,  "  At  Vienna  I  shall  throw  myself  at 
his  highness's  feet,  but  here,  I  am  field  marshal  like 
himself ;  only  much  older  :"  and  when  the  second 
request  was  made,  he  drily  said,  "  An  old  soldier  like 
myself,  can  only  once  be  deceived  ;"  and  put  an  end 
to  all  expectations  of  his  interference. 

Of  baron  Thugut,  the  prime  minister,  and  the  sup- 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.        173 

equally  probable,  that  her  jealousy  of  Russia's 
future  progress  may  overbalance  the  pain 
and  mortification  from  the  already  experien- 

posed  cause  of  Austrian  duplicity,  Suwarow  observed, 
in  one  of  his  rhyming  humours, 
"  He,  worse  than  all  the  rest, 
Keeps  scribbling  in  his  nest, 
And  thinks  to  do  by  writing, 
What  must  be  done  by  fighting." 
The  manner  in   which  every  treacherous  attempt 
turned  to  the  advantage   of  Russia,  and  to  the  pun- 
ishment of  her  false    friend,  shews  the  interposition 
of  Providence  so  clearly,  that  some  instances  deserve 
to  be  mentioned  here  : 

The  desertion  of  Suwarow  by  the  Austrians  in- 
creased his  glory,  and  that  of  the  Russian  arms. 

His  death,  accelerated  by  the  chagrin  of  being 
obliged,  through  the  machinations  of  Austria,  to 
abandon  the  object  of  his  brilliant,  laborious  cam- 
paign, shewed  the  world,  that  Russia  possessed 
more  than  one  great  general. 

The  very  French  army,  from  the  pursuit  of  which 
Suwarow  was  prematurely  recalled  to  Switzerland, 
and  whose  destruction  was  thus  left  unfinished,  de- 
prived Austria,  the  next  spring,  at  once  of  her 
conquests  and  glory,  on  the  plains  of  Marengo. 

The  ungenerous  conduct  of  all  the  continental  na- 
tions, and  chiefly  of  Austria,  in  forsaking  Russia  at 
the  moment  of  danger,  only  made  the  latter  reap  the 
full  harvest  of  glory,  and  possess  the  undivided 
spoils  of  victory. 
P* 


174       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

ced  progress  of  France;  and  that  she  may 
trust  to  the  false  promises  of  Buonaparte,  more 
than  to  the  sincerity  of  Alexander,  who  has 
never  yet  deceived  any  one.  Some  other 
clue  must,  therefore,  be  found  to  her  future 
policy,  and  the  probable  conduct  she  may 
adopt.  It  can  only  be  found  in  her  fears, 
and  in  her  inability  to  check  the  progress  of 
the  Russians.  Prussia,  by  operating  against 
her  on  one  side,  and  Turkey  on  the  other, 
will  confine  her  entirely  to  the  defence  of  her 
own  territory  ;  and  enable  Russia  to  bend  her 
whole  force  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with 
France.  If  Austria  therefore  takes  the  part 
of  France,  her  Polish  possessions  will  be  lost 
without  an  equivalent  :  but  if  she  thinks,  that 
her  arms  furnish  better  means  to  repossess 
herself  of  the  Italian  states,  and  extend  her 
power  to  the  Mediterranean, — an  object  of 
great  interest  to  her, — she  will  joinRussia,and 
be,  for  once,  on  the  right  side  of  the  question. 
This  is  certainly  the  course  of  wisdom  ;  for 
with  Russia  she  can  be  what  she  was,  and 
with  France  she  will  be  less  than  she  is.  Nev- 
ertheless, as  she  may  not  wish  to  assist  Rus- 
sia, and  will  not  dare  to  oppose  her  ;  and  as  she 
may  hope,  while  the  two  great  nations  are 
contending,  to  recover  breath,  and  thus  by  de- 


SK&TCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.       175 

grees  regain  her  importance  among  the  na- 
tions,— the  most  probable  conclusion  is,  that 
she  will  remain  neutral. 

SWEDEN  will  pursue  the  same  course  ;  be- 
cause, in  a  country  where  a  legitimate  sov- 
ereign was  deposed  on  account  of  his  warlike 
disposition,  a  stranger,  who  succeeded  him, 
must  altogether  depend  for  his  popularity  on 
his  undeviating  preference  of  peace.  England 
and  Russia  understood  well  the  situation  of 
Bernadotte,  and  appeared  perfectly  satisfied 
with  his  neutrality,  as  long  as  he  made  dem- 
onstrations, which  he  did,  of  invading  Germa- 
ny, and  thus,  by  distracting  the  force  and  at- 
tention of  the  French,  produced  as  much  ef- 
fect as,  if  he  had  actually  embarked  in  the 
projected  expedition.  If  Sweden,  however, 
wishes  to  recover  Pomerania,  she  must,  of  ne- 
cessity, act  with  Russia  and  England  :  in- 
deed, from  her  geographical  situation,  she  has 
no  other  choice  than  to  be  the  ally  of  both, 
and  no  other  chance  of  prosperity. 

DENMARK,  whether  she  wishes,  or  not, 
must  follow  in  the  train  of  the  northern  pow- 
ers ;  she  will  however  wait,  as  long  as  she 
can,  to  see  which  side  is  likely  to  prevail  in 
Germany.  She  has  been  a  mere  tool,  a  min. 
iature  of  France  and  the  satellite  of  Buona- 


176        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

parte,  whose  acts  of  plunder  and  piracy  she 
has  been  aping  to  the  utmost  of  her  insignifi- 
cant power.  It  is  of  very  little  consequence 
which  way  she  goes,provided  she  does  not  con- 
tinue privateering  against  the  commercial  prop- 
erty in  the  Baltic — for  then  she  will  find,  to 
her  cost,  that  her  power  of  doing  mischief 
is  of  short  duration  ;  and  that  Holstein  and 
Norway,  perchance,  may  be  disposed  of,  not 
exactly  to  her  liking. 

The  RHENISH  CONFEDERATION,  or  prin- 
ces composing  it, — tho' they  are  tired  of  being 
less  than  the  prefects  of  Buonaparte, — though 
they  hail  with  joy  their  prospect  of  deliverance, 
and  are  inclined,  from  family  connexions  as 
well  as  other  motives,  to  favour  the  Russian 
interest > — are  so  weak,  that  they  wrill  not  dare 
to  stir,  until  the  French  shall  have  left  them,  or 
the  Prussians,  if  not  Russians,  shall  have  en- 
tered their  territories.  Then  they  certainly 
will.  The  fallen  tyrant  of  Europe,  as  he  re- 
cedes towards  France,  will  multiply  his  ene- 
emies  ;  and  Russia  will  find  new  friends,  as 
she  advances  from  her  own  territories. 

TURKEY,  by  her  recent  conduct,  has  most 
unequivocally  shewn  her  preference  of  Rus- 
sian to  French  alliance  ;  and  was  the  only 
power,  that  did  not  desert  Russia.  As  there 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         177 

is  no  doubt  but  her  adherence  to  the  Russian 
cause  proceeded  from  an  anticipation  of  its 
success  ;  such  adherence  must  be  now 
strengthened  by  the  fears  of  provoking  the 
prodigiously  augmented  power  of  Russia  ; 
and  by  a  desire  of  conciliating  her  emperor, 
who  knows  how  to  estimate  and  remem- 
ber good  offices.  The  Turkish  divan  are 
perfectly  acquainted  with  the  character  of 
Alexander  ;  and  are  aware,  that  to  be  upon 
friendly  terms  with  him  is  their  best  security  ; 
and  that,  as  long  as  they  do  not  compel  him 
to  measures  of  hostility,  he  will  not  in- 
jure them.  For  these  reasons,  Turkey  cer- 
tainly will  be  on  the  side  of  Russia  ;  and,  as 
was  before  observed,  will  take  the  field, 
and  is  actually  engaged,  by  treaty,  to  take  it 
against  Austria,  the  moment  the  latter  should 
make  a  serious  demonstration  against  Rus- 
sia. If  Austria,  contrary  to  all  expecta- 
tion, should  join  France,  the  whole  of  Europe 
will  be  in  flames,  and  divided  into  two  parties  ; 
that  is,  France  and  Austria,  on  one  side,  will 
have  to  contend  with  Russia,  Prussia,  Tur- 
key, and  perhaps  Sweden  on  the  other ;  Aus- 
tria, however,  with  all  her  imprudence,  is  not 
likely  to  take  such  a  step. 


178         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

Of  GREAT-BRITAIN  very  little  can  be  said; 
her  policy  and  conduct  being  less  subject  to 
change  and  speculation.  She  is  the  natural 
ally  of  Russia,  and  profits,  more  than  any  oth- 
er power,  by  the  Russian  successes.  All  her 
channels  of  European  commerce  will  be  re- 
stored ;  and  her  prosperity,  from  the  inter- 
course with  the  continent,  will  be  revived 
with  greater  vigour  than  ever,  as  the  tyranny 
of  the  French,  and  the  desolation  caused  by 
their  wars  and  decrees,  have  annihilated  conti- 
nental manufactures,  and  therefore  prodigious- 
ly increased  the  demand  upon  England.  The 
groundwork  of  the  restrictive  system,  operating 
against  her,  will  be  entirely  destroyed  ;  and  it 
will  be  completely  in  her  power,  by  using  her 
advantages  with  wisdom  and  moderation, — by 
adding  to  her  own  naval  power  the  influence 
or  mediation  of  Russia, — to  turn  her  enemies 
to  friends,  or  to  entail  on  them  exclusively  all 
the  losses  and  calamities  of  war. 

THE  LAST  QUESTION,  how  far  France 
will  be  able  to  check  the  progress  of  the  Rus- 
sians? it  would  take  a  volume  to  answer.  Suf- 
fice it  therefore  to  observe,  that  France  is  not  in 
a  condition  to  exert  herself  with  her  former 
success.  The  incessant  and  ruinous  wars,  in 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.        179 

which  she  has  been  for  a  series  of  years  in- 
volved ;  the  enormous   and  wanton  waste  of 
blood   and  treasure ;    the  total  stagnation   of 
commerce,  and  the  consequent  reduction  of 
her  national   resources,  at  the  moment  when 
her  necessities  have  increased  in  double  pro- 
portion ;  have  so  embarrassed  her  finances,  and 
exhausted  her  effective  population,  as  to  render 
her  efforts  comparatively  feeble,  and  unavail- 
ing.    This  is   no  dream,  no  rash,  vain,  and 
extravagant    anticipation  ;     but  an   absolute 
fact,  which  the  first  trial  will  establish  beyond 
all  possibility  of  doubting.     It  will  soon  be 
seen,that  she  is  not  half  so  able  now  to  defend 
herself,  even  at  home,  as  she  was  ten  years 
ago.     It  will  be  seen,  that  her  brilliant  career, 
rich  in  unsubstantial  triumphs,  but  poor  in 
solid  advantages,  was  undermining  her  vital 
strength,  and  propelling  her  back  to  relative 
impotence.     It  will  be  seen,  that,  by  persecu- 
ting   commerce,    she    has  punished    herself 
much  more,  than  her  tributary  nations — infi- 
nitely more  than  England — and  has  inflicted  a 
fatal  blow  on  her  own  prosperity.     The  sys- 
tem of  exaggeration,*  for  many  years  success* 

*  Mr.  D'Invernois,  in  his  "  Napoleon  1'adminis- 
trateur,"  incontestibly  proves  from  official  sources, 
from  the  payment  actually  made,  that  the  French  ar- 


180         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

fully  pursued  by  her — which  overawed  the 
weak  and  timid,  checked  the  strong  and  dar- 
ing, and  imposed  upon  the  world  at  large — 
cannot  last  for  ever  ;  and  the  illusion  it  crea- 
ted will  soon  be  broken,  when  her  real 
strength  will  appear  much  below  its  general 
estimate.  There  was  an  artificial  splendour 
thrown  around  her,  which  bedazzled  the 
mind,  and  diverted  it  from  contemplating  the 
substance  itself.  She  appeared  like  some  ob- 
ject looming  at  sea,  and  diminishing  in  size  as 
it  is  approached  ;  or,  to  speak  more  pointed- 
ly, she  was  in  the  state  of  the  human  body, 
diseased  with  dropsy,  where  the  enlargement 
of  external  parts  was  mistaken  For  a  symptom 
of  health  and  vigour. 

mies,  so  often  announced  at  800,000  men,  never  ex- 
ceeded 400,000  men  ;  thut,  though  their  annual 
maintainance  increased  in  expense,  owing  to  the  de- 
preciation of  property,  their  numerical  or  effective 
strength  was  not  augmented  ;  and  that,  consequent- 
ly, the  military  power  of  France  was  not  greater  then, 
(before  the  last  campaign,)  than  it  was  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XIV.  The  aid  of  the  allies,  or  rather  the 
vassals,  may  have  swelled  the  number  in  appear- 
ance ;  but  this  is  an  aid,  that  requires  as  much  to  get 
and  keep  it,  as  it  is  worth  ;  and  is  apt,  as  Buonaparte 
soon  will  find,  to  break  out  in  ulcers  all  over  the 
body. 


SKETCH  OF   THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         181 

Her  conscriptive  system, — the  parent  of 
fallacious  theories! —  which,  even  in  the  eyes 
of  distinguished  men,  men  whose  talents  and 
labours  are  an  honour  to  their  country,  gave 
her  a  magic  superiority  over  all  the  rest,  was 
only  the  effect  of  unnatural  irritation  ;  produ- 
cing an  extraordinary  exertion,  which  must 
inevitably  be  followed  by  correspondent  lassi- 
tude and  weakness.  It  was  the  speed  of  a 
race-horse,  galled  by  the  spur,  or  excited  by 
ambition,  beating  all  the  rest  upon  a  short 
distance,  but  finally  giving  way  to  a  common 
well-conditioned  animal,  proceeding  with  his 
regular  pace.  A  vast  body  of  water  can  only 
be  kept  together  by  an  equilibrium,  or  by  its 
outlet  being  proportionate  to  its  inlet  ;  but  if, 
by  the  breaking  down  of  the  bank,  or  any  oth- 
er cause  creating  an  unusual  impulse,  its  reg- 
ular channel  of  egress  should  swell  into  an 
overwhelming  torrent,  the  streams,  which  feed 
the  main  body,  cannot  supply  the  deficiency 
quick  enough,  and  the  whole  must  be,sooner 

t  It  is  singular,  that  those,  who,  upon  such  theories, 
supported  the  irresistibility  of  France,  had  entirely 
overlooked  that  in  Prussia  the  same  system  was  rig- 
orously and  habitually  enforced  ;  and  yet  no  other 
power,  that  pretended  to  military  distinction,  was  ev- 
er so  easily  and  rapidly  overthrown. 


I«2         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

or  later  exhausted.  So  it  is  with  the  French 
conscription,  which  becomes  less  and  less 
productive  every  year.  In  ordinary  times  it 
has  only  been  sufficient  to  repair  the  annual 
losses  of  the  army  ;  and  in  the  late  terri- 
ble, though,  in  appearance,  most  prosperous 
wars,  it  could  only  supply  the  deficiency  by 
anticipation.  How  impoverished  then,  and 
how  inadequate  must  be  this  source,  after  such 
a  campaign^  as  the  last ;  a  campaign,  which 
must  accelerate  the  issue  of  the  previous  con- 
current and  debilitating  causes  ;  terminate  the 
feverish  energy,  imparted  by  the  revolution  ; 
throw  France  back>  weak  and  exhausted  after 
the  paroxysm,  into  her  natural  state ;  and  to  pro- 
duce that  consummation  of  disasters,  which 
she  was  for  some  time  approaching,  but  which 
was  hid  from  the  inattentive  spectator,  by  the 
imposing  splendour  of  her  triumphs. 

The  consummation  of  disasters  is  not  meant 
here  to  imply  the  downfall  and  total  dissolu- 
tion of  France  ;  but  that  critical  state, in  which, 
her  wings  being  clipped,  and  her  claws 
drawn  out,  the  whole  body  is  so  enfeebled, 
that  years  of  peace  and  rest  can  only  restore 
her,  and  one  violent  attack  more  would  be  fa- 
tal to  her  existence.  The  nation,  which  could 


SKETCH  OF  THi;  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          183 

bear  so  much  reduction,  must  still  be  strong, 
like  a  man  of  robust  constitution,  who  may 
even  in  his  illness  overcome  a  healthy  adver- 
sary of  weaker  frame  ;  nevertheless,  her  pow- 
er of  conquest  is  destroyed,  and  her  ability  to 
defend  herself  is  so  far  impaired,  as  to  render 
her  safety  doubtful,  and  the  capture  of  Paris 
by  the  Russians  much  more  probable, than  the 
marching  of  the  French  to  St.  Petersburgh. 
For  it  cannot  be  doubted,  but  the  Russians,  in 
case  France  persists  in  rejecting  all  terms  of 
accommodation,  will  pursue  her  broken  le- 
gions, even  to  her  capital — to  the  very  heart 
of  her  own  empire.  If  they  do  so,  and  they 
must,  unless  peace  prevents  them  ;  they  must 
conquer  in  spite  of  all  predictions  to  the  con- 
trary, as  the  chances  are  reversed,  and  doubled 
in  their  favour.  France,  in  1 799,  was  much 
stronger  than  she  is  now,  and  her  armies 
were  entire  ;  and  yet  the  Russians, who  invad- 
ed her  at  that  time,  were  prevented  from 
marching  to  Paris,  merely  by  a  disagreement 
between  Paul  and  the  Austrian  cabinet.  Her 
resistance,  therefore,  would  be  feeble  indeed, 
when,  besides  the  invading  force  being  ten 
times  greater,  her  own  resources  are  dimin- 
ished, and  her  armies  swept  from  the  face  of 
the  earth. 


184         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

France  cannot  recover  her  loss  in  Poland. 
It  is  not  merely  the  men,  who  composed  her 
army,  that  she  has  lost  ;    but  all  the  physical 
and  moral  means,  indispensable  for  its  sup- 
port,  were  also  destroyed.     It  was  a  nation 
sunk  at  once.     It  was  embarking  the  capital 
and  the  interest   in  a  hazardous  voyage,  on 
which  no  insurance  was    made,  but  all   was 
trusted  to  the  superior  strength  of  the  vessel  ; 
and  then  losing   both  by  a    sudden    wreck, 
from  which  neither  planks  enough  to  build  a 
boat,  nor  men  enough  to  navigate  it,   could 
be  saved.     The  ruined    merchant,  however, 
has  in  this   case,  so  far  the  advantage,  that,  if 
his  credit  be  good  at  home,  he   may  get  as- 
sistance, embark  in  some  new  enterprize,  and 
by    one   lucky   turn,   recover    all  ;    whereas 
France,  whose  finances  are  too  embarrassed  to 
relieve  her  poverty,   has  no  credit  whatever. 
Who  will  trust  her  ?     Of  whom  will  she  bor- 
row, when  her  own  merchants  are  ruined,  and 
and    when   strangers,    whom    she    affects   to 
consider  as  friends,  no  longer  dread  her  power, 
which  had  already  extorted  from  them   the 
greatest   part   of  their  property  ?     Will   the 
runaway  dukes  and  marshals  open  their  pri- 
vate purses,  and  will  Napoleon,  or  his  rapa- 
cious ex-empressJosephine,  empty  the  treasure 


SKBTCII  OF  THE  PitKS^XT  CAMPAIGN.          185 

out  of  their  private  coffers?  They  may  do 
so,  rather  than  be  driven  from  their  "  bud 
eminence  ;"  but  the  resource  is  precarious, 
insufficient,  and  at  best,  of  a  transient  nature. 
Unless,  therefore,  Buonaparte  has  the  magic 
power  to  make  war  without  money,  call  up 
his  dead  warriors  from  their  graves  in  Poland, 
or  create  new  ones,  by  sowing  the  dragon's 
teeth  upon  the  field  ;  he  can  as  easily  stop  the 
motion  of  the  earth,  as  check  the  progress  of 
the  Russians,  or,  by  preserving  his  allies,  pre- 
serve his  own  power.*  Peace,  speedy  peace, 
is  his  only  remedy. 

*  Buonaparte's  plain  intimation,  that  he  cannot 
well  defend  himself,  without  the  assistance  of  his  al- 
lies, is  contained  in  the  following  extract  from  the 
report  of  the  French  minister  of  exterior  relations, 
dated  Paris,  January  9th.  "  With  the  garrisons  of 
places  in  France  and  Italy,  your  majesty  has  there- 
fore, in  the  interior  of  your  states-,  a  force  more  than 
sufficient  to  maintain  the  war  with  Russia  for  the 
ajifir caching  campaign  ;  and  your  intention,  sire,  was 
not  deemed  any  extraordinary  assistance,  if  all  your 
allies,  and  especially  Austria,  Denmark,  and  Prussia, 
remained  faithful  to  the  common  cause" 

The  words  Italy  and  states,  mean,  that  France  is 
obliged  to  speculate  on  the  assistance  of  nations  con- 
quered by  her  ;  a  most  promising  speculation  !  I 
The  words,  sufficient ,  with  /taw/0,  (instead  of  in  Rus~ 


186       SKETCH  OF  THE   PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

That  he  will  endeavour  to  make  a  show  of 
force,  in  hopes  of  keeping  his  allies  in  awe,  is 
most  certain  ;  but  that  he  will  dare  to  meet 
the  Russians  half  way, or  that  he  can  expect  to 
frighten  them  from  their  purpose,  whatever  it 
may  be,  is  extremely  improbable.  What 
force  can  he  now  bring  against  them  into  the 
field,  with  any  prospect  of  success  ?  Of  the 

sia)  afifiroaching)  and  extraordinary^  are  all  so  many 
admissions,  that  France  apprehends  an  attack  upon 
herself,  and  dares  not  even  think  of  an  offensive 
war.  Indeed,  since  Buonaparte's  return,  he  has  not 
given  the  least  hint  of  such  an  event  being  contem- 
plated, or  even  considered  as  possible. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  extract  is  a  volume  of 
open  confessions,  and  places  the  safety  of  France  on 
a  contingency,  which  cannot,  and  will  not  take 
place.  What  right  has  Napoleon  to  expect,  that  nations 
trampled  on  by  him,  will  continue  faithful  to  hisinter- 
est,  when  they  can  trample  upon  him  in  turn  ;  or 
•hat  they  have  more  dffection  for  their  ruthless  op- 
pressor, than  for  their  deliverer  ?  He  may  be  as- 
sured, that  interest  and  natural  passions  are  the  same 
in  nations,  as  in  individuals  ;  and  that  if  his  safety  de- 
pend upon  Prussia,  Denmark,  and  Austria,  he  is 
gone  past  all  recovery.  His  quick  sensibility  as  to 
Austria,  and  his  extreme  solicitude  to  convince  the 
world,  that  she  received  the  British  ambassador  with 
coolness,  show  his  great  fears  of  her  desertion,  and 
even  of  her  joining  Russia  in  open  war. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.  l8f 

whole  French  army,  never  materially  exceed- 
ing 400.000  men,    250,000  (the  stated    pro- 
portion   of  Frenchmen)     sacrificed    in     Po- 
land ;   100,000  toiling  in    Spain  ;  and   about 
50,000  dispersed  in  various  parts  of  Germany 
and  Italy,  to  keep  the  faithful  allies  in  obedi- 
ence,— make  up  the  whole  number,  and  leave 
scarcely  the  substance  of  a  regular  army  in  the 
interior  of  France.     The  Spanish   war,  which 
was  undermining  his  resources,  even  before 
he  went  to  Russia,  by   being  a  constant  and 
heavy  expense  to  him,  without  any    plunder 
in  return,  to  enable  him,  as  was  the  case  in 
other  places,  to  rivet  the  chains  of  slavery  by 
the  hands  of  the  victims  themselves  ;  must 
still  employ  his  famishing  troops  there,  and 
he  dares  not,    at  least,   will  not,  recal  them, 
until  he    is   driven  to   the  last  extremity  of 
confessing    to   the    world    the    real     incom- 
petency  of  his  means  at  home.     He  knows 
too  well,  that  by  such  a  step,  he  would  invite 
lord  Wellington's  attack    upon     some   vital 
parts  of  France  ;  and  therefore  thinks  it  best 
to  defend  himself  in  Spain  ;  cunningly  turn- 
ing  the  measure  of  necessity  into  an  appear- 
ance of  defiance  and  triumph.     The  recal  of 
troops  from  that  country,  would  be  the  most 
conclusive,  and  the  greatest  proof  imaginable. 


.18S         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPA1G  M 

of  his  despair,  and  of  his  want  of  confidence 
in  his  350,000  conscriptsand  militia  men, so  ex- 
ultingly  announced  in  all  the  papers.  350,000 
men,  and  no  more,  when  a  great  "  display  of 
force"*  is  so  indispensable — and  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  constant  practice  of  exaggera- 
ting in  prosperous  times,  and  with  less  mo- 
tive, the  whole  must  have  been  estimated,  at 
least,  one  half  above  its  real  number — is  a  piti- 
ful force,  and  a  terrible  falling  off  from  the 
800,000  men,that  had  so  often  appeared  on  pa- 
per, and  made  the  world  tremble.  But  let  him 

*  In  the  same  report  of  January  9th,  the  French 
minister  expressly  says  :  "  By  this  immense  display 
of  forces,  the  interest,  the  consequence  of  France, 
and  the  safety  of  its  allies^  will  be  guarded  against 
alt  >  t's,"  implying  thereby,  the  repetition  of  the 
preceding  sentiments  and  apprehensions,  that  the 
safety  of  France  is  endangered  ;  that  the  faith  of  the 
allies  is  insecure;  and  that  France  can  scarcely  hope  to 
defend  herself  at  home  against  the  storm  which 
threatens  her. 

As  soon,  indeed,  as  Buonaparte  returned,  the  sen- 
ate, in  their  address  to  him,  on  the  25th  of  December, 
spoke  of  the  zeal  of  Frenchmen  being  capable  "  to 
snatch  from  the  influence  of  their  enemies,  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  continent  ;"  which  is  a  fair  ac- 
knowledgment, that  the  continent  is,  or  will  be  lost  to 
them,  in  consequence  of  their  inability  to  resist  the 
Victorious  arms  of  the  Russians. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         1S9 

have  it  all  as  he  states  it  ;  let  it  be  supposed 
probable,  that  a  man,  who  never  told  truth 
when  falsehood  was  altogether  unprofitable, 
should  tell  truth  now,  when  falsehood  is  so  es- 
sential to  his  interest  ;  and  what  then  ?  Is 
his  militia,  pompously  called  "  cohorts," 
and  intended  only  for  home  defence,  but  now 
forced  to  make  an  offer  of  their  services  for 
other  purposes,  any  proof  of  his  being  well 
provided  with  regular  troops,  or  of  his  being 
able  and  willing  to  march  against  the  Russians 
far  beyond  his  own  frontiers  ?  Or  are  his 
conscripts,  forming  the  remainder,  mere 
boys,  and  raw  recruits,  the  specimen  of  the 
immense  effective  force  still  left  him  ?  Can 
these,  with  their  looks,  appal  the  victorious 
veterans  ?  Will  he  dare  to  meet,  can  he  hope 
to  overcome  the  Russian  warriors,  who  have 
destroyed  his  best  troops,  with  these  beard- 
less striplings  ;  who,  unless  prevented  by  the 
bayonet  behind,  will  run  away  at  the  sight  of 
a  Cozak  ?  No  !  He  must  first  raise  them, 
then  drill  them,  and  ask  the  Russians  not  to 
kill  the  poor  creatures,  until  they  are  grown 
in  size  and  discipline. 

To  RAISE  THEM  in  numbers  sufficient  to 
fill  up  the  dreadful  chasm,  made  by  the  last 
campaign,  is  impracticable,  on  account  of  the 


190         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

previous  great  scarcity  of  young  men,  caused 
by  the  merciless  scythe  of  war  and  conscrip- 
tion. But,  supposing  it  to  be  practicable,  the 
measure  itself  is  a  very  hazardous  experiment, 
being  peculiarly  oppressive  at  this  moment. 
The  loss  of  250,000  men,  in  so  short  a  time, 
must  have  made  mourners  of  many  parents  ; 
and  yet,  while  their  hearts  are  bleeding  with 
the  wounds  just  inflicted,  they  are  called  upon 
to  deliver  up  their  remaining  sons  to  the  same 
untimely  and  horrible  fate.  It  is  not  in 
human  nature  to  bear  such  misery  with  pa- 
tience ;  and  there  is  no  sacrifice,  no  self-de- 
votion of  which  a  parent  is  not  capable,  in  de- 
fence of  his  offspring.  The  young  men  too 
must  enter  the  service  with  prospects  and 
emotions  very  different  from  those,  which 
heretofore  were  wont  to  animate  them.  Their 
confidence  in  their  chief  is  now  destroyed  ; 
and  the  magic  spell  of  his  name,  which  decoy- 
ed them  to  the  jaws  of  death,  while  it  petrified 
their  enemies,  is  now  dissolved  forever.  He 
has  been  so  completely  disgraced,  compelled 
to  so  infamous  a  flight — for  there  was  nothing 
in  his  retrograde  progress  deserving  the 
name  of  retreat — that  of  his  former  military 
reputation,  he  has  not  saved  enough  to  assure 
the  soldier,  that  in  case  of  adverse  fortune. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         191 

the  talents  of  his  general  would,  at  least,  save 
his  honour.     A  loss  of  name  like  this,  is  the 
most  grievous  and  fatal,  that  can  happen  to 
any  commander.      The   imagination   of  the 
young  conscript,  under  such  an  impression, 
no  longer  soars  like  an  eagle,  over  the  ocean 
of  futurity  ;  but,  like  a  timorous  dove,  hasti- 
ly turns  away,  and  scarcely  dares  to  cast  a  sin- 
gle look  behind.     His  terror  and  despondency 
are  in  proportion  to  that  youthful  ardour,  that 
fearless  ignorance,  and  those  buoyant  hopes, 
which  were   formerly  his  conductors  to  the 
field  of  battle.     He  is  now  fully  informed  of 
the  danger  that  awaits  him,  and  views  it  in  its 
real  frightful  aspect  ;  for  there  is  no  protect- 
ing and  kindly  deceiving  phantom  to  step  be- 
tween, and  cover  it  with    its  gorgeous  veil. 
Instead  of  the  wide  and  tempting  road,  be- 
strewed   with     laurel    leaves,     and    leading 
through  the  golden  regions  of  glory  ;  he  sees 
a  rugged  path,  overgrown  with  prickly  thorns, 
conducting   from   one  precipice   to  another, 
and  lost  amidst  the  graves,  from  which  the 
spectres  of  his  brethren  and  countrymen  rise 
up  to  warn  him  of  his  doom.     Against  the  en- 
emy, of  whom   he   cannot  now   even  think 
without  trembling,  he  expects  no  success  ; 
but  if  he  should  conquer,  a  still  greater  mise- 


19.2       SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

ry  awaits  him  on  the  snowy  plains  of  Poland. 
With  such  prepossessions,  therefore,  as 
these,  the  conscripts  will  not  be  of  much  ser- 
vice to  Buonaparte. 

To  DRILL  THEM,  is  also  a  difficult  thou  gh 
indispensable  task  ;  for  the  very  sinews  of  the 
army,  its  props,  its  guides,  its  instructors,  its 
moving  springs,  and  its  chief  strength,  are 
gone  with  the  inferior  officers  ;  all  those,  who 
connected  the  head  with  the  extremities,  or 
the  soul  with  the  body,  and  made  a  harmoni- 
ous whole.  Another  French  army,  so  entirely 
new,  and  raised,  as  it  were,  within  one  cen- 
tury of  the  former,  would  be  deprived  even  of 
the  benefit  of  tried  courage,  and  the  well 
practised  arm,  by  which  an  old  soldier  so  of- 
ten sustains  his  younger  comrade,  who  has 
not  yet  shaken  hands  with  "  grim-visag'd" 
danger.  Time  alone  can  make  such  troops 
efficient  ;  but  then  the  Russians  are  not 
complaisant  or  foolish  enough  to  grant  them 
the  wished-for  indulgence. 

The  exalted  idea,  however,  that  many  have 
not  ceased  to  entertain  of  the  personal  abilities 
of  Buonaparte,  excites  apprehension,  that  he 
still  will  be  able  to  repair  his  disasters,  and 
even  to  act  with  vigour  on  the  offensive. 
Some  have  gone  so  far,  as  to  deem  his  person- 


SKETCH  OP  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.          19S 

al  escape  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  loss 
of  his  whole  army  ;  and  some,  advancing 
still  further,  have  declared,  that  of  the  two 
alternatives,  the  safety  of  his  army  was  less 
dangerous  to  the  world,  than  the  safety  of  his 
own  person.  To  all  these  a  very  short  an- 
swer can  be  given. 

Buonaparte  is  a  mortal,  and  therefore  cannot 
do  that,  which  omnipotence  alone  can  effect...* 
repair  the  unexampled  disasters,  that,  with 
one  fell  sweep,  made  his  myriads  disappear, 
and  his  power  vanish.  As  to  his  resuming 
the  offensive  attitude,  he  himself  has  not  dared 
even  to  boast  of  it,  though  it  would  be  for 
his  immediate  interest  so  to  do ;  any  expecta- 
tion, therefore,  of  such  an  event,  must  be 
groundless.  It  is  as  easy  for  Buonaparte  to 
replunge  civilized  men  into  barbarism,  and 
make  them  prefer  the  naked  state  of  a  savage 
to  the  luxuries  of  an  European, — to  turn  the 
merchant  into  a  farmer,  the  farmer  into  a 
manufacturer,  and  to  reverse  the  habits  of  a 
whole  nation,  acquired  and  strengthened  with 
years — an  attempt,  which  he  indeed  was  pre- 
sumptuous and  tyrannical  enough  to  make — 
as  to  appear  against  the  Russians  in  the  char- 
acter of  an  assailant.  This,,  at  least,  is  not  in 
his  power. 


194        SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

As  to  his  personal  safety,  the  ensuing 
spring  will  convince  the  world,  that  it  owes  its 
importance  more  to  imagination,  than  reality. 
It  was  France,  that  made  him  formidable  ; 
to  break  her  power,  to  paralyze  its  systematic 
exertion,  as  has  been  done,  is  not  only  to  re- 
duce him  to  a  mere  harmless  man,  but  to  pre- 
vent her  and  her  future  rulers,  from  being 
equally  formidable.  The  will  and  means  of 
oppression  were  not  created  by  him,  but  al- 
ways existed  in  France,  and  formed  a  part  of 
her  political  system  ;  these  may  have  been 
directed  by  him  with  greater  energy,  but 
undoubtedly  would  pass  the  same  to  his 
successors.  It  is  therefore  of  more  conse- 
quence to  rifle  the  nest,  where  young  vul- 
tures are  nursed,  than  to  kill  their  guardian, 
who  may  be  succeeded  by  another  ;  or  to 
destroy  the  contents  of  the  modern  engine  of 
death,  than  to  extinguish  the  match,  which 
may  be  relighted,  and  applied  by  another 
hand.  The  escape  of  Buonaparte  was  even 
necessary  to  complete  the  triumph  obtained 
over  himself  and  France.  Had  he  fallen  on 
the  field,  or  been  taken  prisoner,  the  disasters 
of  the  French  would  have  been  altogether 
attributed  to  his  absence  ;  and  the  idea,  that 


SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN.         195 

he  could  have  averted  them,  would  prevent 
the  world  from  appreciating  the  powerful  ef- 
forts of  Russia  ;  nay,  it  would  have  blinded 
all  Frenchmen  to  the  reality  and  extent  of 
their  misfortunes  ;  so  that,  under  the  standard 
of  another,  they  still  would  enlist  with  unabat- 
ed confidence  ;  and  France  might  still  inspire 
that  terror,  of  which  she  is  now  deprived.  It 
is  only  by  shewing,  that  France,  writh  Buona- 
parte himself  for  her  ruler,  can  no  longer  main- 
tain her  ground  of  elevation,  that  mankind  in 
general  will  be  convinced  of  the  full  extent  of 
what  has  been  done  by  Russia  ;  and  they, 
at  no  distant  period,  will  be  convinced.  Buon- 
aparte may  say,  that  his  disasters  were 
owing  to  the  elements  ;  but,  had  he  been  vic- 
torious in  the  preceding  battles,  the  elements 
would  have  acted  rather  for,  than  against 
him  ;  and  the  battles  of  Borodino  and  the 
Nara,  could  not  have  compelled  him  to  re- 
main inactive,  and  then  to  retreat  in  a  very 
unfavourable  season.  Even  when  he  was  re- 
tracing his  steps,  the  elements  were  no 
more  inimical  to  him,  than  to  his  pursuers  ; 
therefore,  the  excuse  will  not  pass.  The 
whole  truth  is,  that  he  has  been  beaten  in  ev- , 
ery  encounter,  each  time  with  greater  loss  ; 


196         SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESENT  CAMPAIGN. 

and  the  result  is,  that  he  is  ruined  ;  that, 
should  he  attempt  to  carry  his  unprecedented 
conscription  into  effect,  his  personal  safety 
will  be  of  short  duration  ;  that  his  friends,  if 
he  has  any,  disappointed  in  their  hopes  of  his 
recovering  himself,  will  drop  off;  and  that 
peace,  which  is  the  darling  object  of  Alexan- 
der, and  which  must  humble  France,  is  the 
only  expedient,  which  can  rescue  Buonaparte 
from  impending  destruction. 


ERRATUM. — Page   53,  16th  line  from  bottom,  for  palpable, 
read  probable. 


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